PANAMA  PICTURES 


MIC 


ELEVANTE 


PANAMA   PICTURES 

NATURE  AND  LIFE 

in  the 

Land  of  the  Great  Canal 

BY 
MICHAEL  DELEVANTE 


NEW    YORK 

ALDEN    BROTHERS 
Publisher. 


1 


Copyright   1907 

BY 
MICHAEL   DELEVANTE. 


•PTON  ACCESSION 

*cio~mJBRA«Y  R  Y 


THIS  BOOK   IS 

LOVINGLY      DEDICATED 

TO 

MY      WIFE,      ALETHIA, 

IN  ACKNOWLEDGMENT  OF 

HER  VALUABLE   CO-OPERATION. 


O'.AH  I'  I,'.  '1  VO  K  tH'i, 


INTRODUCTION. 

For  the  truth  of  everything  that  has  been 
written  in  this  volume,  the  author  vouches. 

ACROSS  THE  PANAMA  ISTHMUS  is  an 
up-to-date  Sketch  of  the  Isthmus,  of  Isth- 
mian life  and  manners,  of  the  Canal,  and 
the  present  improved  conditions,  so  much  in 
contrast  with  those  depicted  in  the  Story  of 
AN  UNHEEDED  WARNING.  Should  ACROSS 
THE  PANAMA  ISTHMUS  succeed  in  the  mis- 
sion on  which  I  send  it  out,  I  shall  then 
have  been  most  amply  rewarded  in  the  vin- 
dication of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

A  TALE  OF  THE  OLD  WASHINGTON  HOUSE 
should  not  fail  to  entertain  all  those 
who  are  interested  in  Isthmian  life  of 
the  Past;  in  the  sayings  and  doings  of  men 
in  the  early  period  written  of;  and  in  the 
history  of  one  of  the  oldest  Panama  Kail 
Road  land-marks  that  graced  the  Atlantic 
Terminus.  Possibly,  there  are  still  a  few 
of  the  Old  Boys  living  yet,  whose  names,  in 


vi  INTRODUCTION. 

disguise,  are  associated  with  the  incidents 
portrayed,  and  whom  the  Story  will  reach, 
eventually,  in  its  wanderings  about  the 
World.  Should  such  be  the  happy  circum- 
stance, it  is  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  take 
their  memories  back  to  the  good  times  and 
the  happy  days  they  spent  in  the  dear  Old 
Washington  House,  of  which  I,  too,  have 
some  very  pleasant  recollections. 

AN  UNHEEDED  WARNING  is  a  Story 
dealing  with  the  mad  influx  of  people  from 
abroad,  almost  immediately  after  the  sign- 
ing of  the  Canal  Treaty  between  the  Repub- 
lic of  Panama  and  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, and  the  unfortunate  results  which 
the  early  rush  led  up  to.  The  story  is  a  true 
one,  with,  of  course,  the  usual  little  embel- 
lishments, here  and  there,  which  go  towards 
the  adornment  of  a  Tale. 

Michael  Delevante. 

Colon,  Republic  of  Panama,  January  1, 
1907. 


ACROSS  THE  PANAMA  ISTHMUS 13 

A  TALE  OF  THE  OLD  WASHINGTON  HOUSE.  8? 
AN  UNHEEDED  WARNING  .  .143 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Statue  of  Columbus Front  Cover. 

The  Great  Culebra  Cut Frontispiece 

Panama  Bay — see  page  15 13 

"Palm  Avenue,"  Cristobal — see  page  27^ 14 

Pier  4,  Harbor  of  Colon 15 

Pier  n,  Harbor  of  Cristobal — see  page  28 16 

Interior  View  of  Pier  n 17 

Pier  14,  Harbor  of  Cristobal — see  page  28 18 

Interior  view  of  Pier  14 19 

The  Beach,  Colon — see  page  23 22 

The  two  famous  De  Lesseps'  Palaces  at  Cristobal — 

see  page  27 ' 23 

The  I.  C.  C.  Hospitals,  Colon ;  view  from  the  shore  24 

The  I.  C.  C.  Hospitals,  view  from  the  sea 25 

Front  Street,  Colon,  in  1885 26 

Front  Street,  Colon,  in  1907 27 

Mr.  W.  G.  Tubby,  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Material 

and  Supplies — see  page  27 28 

Entrance  to  Cristobal  Harbor — see  page  28 29 

Mr.  John  F.  Stevens,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  I.  C.  C.  30 
Mr.  W.  G.  Bierd,  General  Manager  of  the  Panama 

Rail  Road  Company — see  page  30 31 

The  new  machine-shops  at  Cristobal — see  page  29. .  32 
Exterior  view  of  the  I.  C.  C.  Warehouse  at  Mount 

Hope — see  page  31 33 

Interior  view  of  the  I.  C.  C.  Warehouse 34 

Native  Village  of  Gatun— see  page  33 35 

Site  of  the  great  Dam  at  Gatun— see  page  35 36 

Loading  Bananas  at  Gatun — see  page  35 37 


LIST  OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Christ  Church,  Colon — see  page  36 38 

Bolivar  Street,  Colon,  after  the  fire  of  March,  1885  40 

A  Gruesome  picture  of  the  fire  of  March,  1885 41 

Gorgona    Station 42 

Bas  Obispo  in  1884 52 

Bas  Obispo  in  1907 53 

Across  the  Bas  Obispo  River — see  page  52 54 

"Camp    Elliott"    Headquarters    of    the    American 

Marines— see  page  53 55 

Empire    in    1883 56 

Empire  in  1907 57 

Culebra  in   1884 — see  page  61 60 

The  Great  Culebra  Cut 64 

The  Great  Culebra  Cut — a  charge  of  6,000  Ibs.  of 

dynamite  and  25  tons  of  Black  Powder  going  up.  65 
President   Roosevelt  and   Party  going  through  the 

Culebra  Cut 66 

The  Residence  of  Mr.  Jno.  F.  Stevens,  Chief  Engi- 
neer, at  Culebra — see  page  66 67 

A  bit  of  the  Culebra  Deviation — see  page  67 68 

The  Rio  Grande  Lake — see  page  67 70 

Bridge  spanning  the  Rio  Grande — see  page  67 71 

The  Cathedral  Square,  Panama— see  page  71 ......  72 

The  Bovedas,  Panama — see  page  71 73 

The  I.  C.  C.  Hospitals,  at  Ancon,  Panama 74 

The  I.  C.  C.  Tivoli  Hotel  at  Panama — see  page  70  75 
Steel  Pier  at  La  Boca,  on  the  Pacific  side,  built  by 

the  French — see  page  74 ?6 

Pier  at  La  Boca,  built  by  the  I.  C.  C ' 77 

The  Old  Washington  House 87 

The  Old  Washington  House— see  page  87 139 


ACROSS  THE  PANAMA  ISTHMUS 


Across    the   Panama-Isthmus. 

On  one  fine  morning,  in  the  Veranito 
month  of  October,  1906,  the  watchman, 
whose  beat  was  around  the  Washington 
House  and  the  neighboring  cottages  on  the 
Beach,  came  to  my  room-door,  in  accordance 
with  instructions  given  to  him  the  night  be- 
fore, and,  rapping  upon  it  impatiently,  sang 
out  to  me,  in  that  half-dreamy  tone  of  voice 
which  smacks  of  a  stolen  wink  or  two : 

"It's  half  past  four,  Senor!" 

As  further  evidence  that  the  fellow  had 
really  been  sleeping  at  his  post  of  duty,  I 
heard  him  yawn,  deep-mouthed  and  long, 
as  I  answered  back  to  him : 

"All  right,  Sercno — I've  heard  you— 
muchisimas  gracias!" 

But  to  make  it  doubly  sure,  it  seems,  that 
both  of  us  were  awake,  he  rapped  again  and 
repeated  more  coherently : 

"It's  half  past  four,  Senor!" 

This  time  there  was  a  deeper  ring  of  im- 
patience in  his  voice,  and,  pervading  it,  a 
tone  of  evident  fear  that  his  reputation  as 


it  r  \\AJd A 

a  watchman  was  at  serious  stake,  and — yes, 
perhaps,  he  thought,  his  job  too. 

In  order,  however,  in  relieve  his  anxiety, 
and  to  eonvinee  him  that  I  was  up  and 
about  tin*  room,  hnsyini:  myself  over  the 
morning's  journey.  I  \\as  compelled  to  go 
out  in  him.  just  as  I  was — in  my  "hrief  gar- 
ments" ami  thank  him  mire  airain  for  hav- 
ing -lie.  eeded  ill  railing  Hie  on  time! 

Then   I   returned  to  m\    romu,  and  Marled 
tn    -'-I     m\self    ready    f«»r    the    train    which 
leaves  ('ohm  at   iV,",!)  A.    M..  and   l.\    \\hirli   1 
had  arran-'-d   t«»  take  a  run  arn.vv  i  he   I'an 
aina  Kihinus. 

After  I  had  -«>!  dresse<l,  I  hurriedly  par- 
t.n.k  of  a  eii|>  of  «-olTtM»,  wliirli  had  IM  en 
dra\\n  for  me  from  the  ni-ht  he  fore;  and 
thru.  I  went  out  to  the  hush  and  <|uiet  of  the 
si  reel-,  \\emlin-  m\  \\  a\  to  t  he  rail  mad  sta- 
tion. \\  hieh  \\as  n.it  far  otT. 

It  \\a-  a  \\nndei-h.\.-l\  morning;!  There 
was  a  strong,  fiv-h  hree/.e  Mowing  from  the 
smith,  which  eonvulsed  the  stately  cot-oa- 
nut  (roes  that  stivued  t  heir  ^ohh-n  Mossoins 
on  the  |iav«Mnent<. 


AMVV  /,•/;    \\i>   /.//•/:.          15 

I'.elike  the  Watchman,  the  Sun  was  just 
then  half  awakened  from  his  slumbers;  but 
I  could  see,  glimmering  in  the  distam -e.  (he 
\\ondrou>l\  -\\uven  heralds  of  his  roming; 
for  tin*  fair  Siintn  Ifitit  Hills,  across  the 
•  Ira|KMl  with  t-loinls  of  anuMlivst 
and  gold,  that  cast  their  drt»am -liurd  shad- 
ows ii|N>n  tin-  \\atiTH,  aud  kisscHl  th<»  silver 
nt  into  ilawniug. 

It  was  exactly  5.30  A.  M.  when  I  reach,-,! 
tlte  railnmd  station.  There  were  still  a 
few  elmi.is  of  the  ni^ht  l»efon*  lingering  in, 
and  o\rr*ha«lo\\  ini;.  tin*  east;  hut  the  el«v- 
tric  liu'ht-.  \\lii.h  \\.-rr  still  iMirning  hri.urht- 
1\.  vii,-,  , .,.,!,., 1  in  rohliiiig  the  .Morning  of  her 
pending  darknen. 

AH  I  landi-d  on  the  jilatforni,  I  was  just  in 
time  to  hear  the  last  ring  upon  the  gong 
air.iinM  tin-  \\all.  an«l  the  ron.lurior  sing 
out  : 

-All  alNNird!'*  in  a  voice  that  might  have 
heen  h.-anl  around  the  entire  neighborhood. 
Tht-n  ih«-  .-n-ine  bell  sunn-  to  and  fro  and 
Mounded  the  u^ual  warning;  after  which  the 
\\hisdr  touted  shrillv;  and  just  as  the  train 


16  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

began  to  move  slowly  out  of  the  station,  the 
brass-buttoned  gentleman  jumped  upon  the 
baggage-car  with  a  graceful  swing  of  his  ac- 
customed legs. 

These  preparatory  manoeuvres,  which  the 
dauntless  engineer  had  just  gone  through, 
reminded  me,  at  once,  of  the  facetious  and 
gesticulative  manner  in  which,  in  years  gone 
by,  a  friend  of  mine  was  wont  to  comment 
upon  them  after  he  had  seen  the  daily  trains 
move  out  from  the  station. 

On  each  occasion  he  would  coine  to  me, 
and,  with  the  positive  delight  of  a  child  il- 
luming his  always-ruddy  countenance, 
would  say,  in  his  usual  laconic  and  discon- 
nected style,  as  he  shook  the  first  finger  of 
his  right  hand  at  me : 

"E  ngi  neer '  s — j  ob — soft — j  ob — see  ? — 

"Toot — Toot!"  and,  then,  he  would  turn 
an  imaginary  lever  around,  as  he  sang  out, 
to  the  finish : 

"PANAMA!" 

This  was  the  peculiar  and  original  way 
which  my  friend  had,  always,  of  classifying 


\.(T(  RE    AXD    LIFE.  17 

an  engineer's  job  on  the  Isthmus — at  a  time, 
too,  when  bullets  were  buzzing  like  bees 
along  the  line  of  the  railroad,  and  when  an 
engineer,  full  many  and  many  a  time,  as 
most  of  us  know,  was  compelled  to  bring  his 
Iron  Horse  to  a  sudden  halt,  or  get  the  con- 
tents of  two  Mauser-rifles  emptied,  forth- 
with, into  his  anatomy! 

But  then,  perhaps,  my  friend  did  not  ap- 
preciate, to  the  fullest  extent,  the  danger 
that  an  engineer  incurred  running  over  the 
road  in  those  trying  and  troublous  days, 
when,  oftentimes,  he  had,  in  order  to  main- 
tain the  service,  to  run  the  gauntlet  through 
the  thick  firing  line! 

No,  sir ! — when  it  came  to  a  just  compari- 
son of  jobs,  my  friend's,  in  the  balance,  was, 
certainly,  the  lighter  of  the  two,  since  his 
was  only  to  sit  down  all  day  long,  in  a  com- 
fortable chair  in  the  office  of  the  G.  S.  and 
hammer  away  at  his  Remington  until  he  got 
tired,  when  he'd  bluff,  for  minutes  and  min- 
utes, upon  the  right-hand  shift-key  of  his 
typewriter  to  make  believe  that  he  was 
working  hard. 


18  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

But,  perhaps,  the  man  behind  the  Rem- 
ington thought  that  he,  too,  was  a  hero  in 
his  own  way,  even  if  he  did  face  a  harmless 
typewriter  and  a  shorthand  book  only. 


MATURE    AND    LIFE.  19 


PART   II. 

When  Ruskin  said  that  travelling  by  rail 
was  like  being  sent  from  place  to  place  like 
so  many  packages,  it  is  evident  that,  before 
making  the  comparison,  he  had  not  "dipped 
into  the  future,  far  as  human  eyes  could 
see;"  nor,  to  paraphrase  Tennyson,  did  he 
see  then,  the  vision  of  Panama,  or  the 
glories  that,  sooner  or  later,  were  destined 
to  be  hers,  by  reason  of  her  unique  geograph- 
ical position  among  the  Nations  of  the 
World,  and  that  would,  eventually,  make  a 
railroad  ride  over  a  beautiful  tropical 
stretch  of  forty-seven  miles  of  country,  a 
thing  never  to  be  forgotten ! 

Be  this  as  it  may,  however,  a  trip  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  has  always  been  a 
most  delightful  and  interesting  experience 
for  me;  but  on  the  present  occasion,  with 
which  this  article  deals,  I  must  say  that  I 
was  more  deeply  impressed  than  ever  before, 
on  account  of  the  marked  improvements 


20  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

which  I  had  noticed  all  along  the  line  of  the 
railroad,  and  which,  summed  up  to  a  grand 
total,  amounted,  so  to  speak,  to  a  veritable 
resurrection  of  things,  long  dead,  from  the 
graveyard  of  1888,  when  the  French  retired, 
to  the  living  present  period  of  1906! 

The  rejuvenation  which  the  varipus  sta- 
tions had  undergone  since  the  advent  of  the 
Americans,  was  patent  everywhere — in 
short,  the  transformation  was  simply  won- 
derful; for  it  seemed  scarcely  credible  that 
so  much  good  work  could  have  been  accom- 
plished in  such  a  comparatively  short  space 
of  time,  in  a  tropical  country,  too,  where 
things,  as  a  rule,  enjoy  the  unenviable  repu- 
tation abroad  of  moving  slowly  on,  and— 
manana-like  to  a  close. 

But,  forgetting  our  critics  for  the  time, 
and  remembering  this,  only :  "The  Truth 
does  not  hurt — it  thrills,"  let  me,  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  are  real  lovers  of  the 
Truth,  and  who  are  friends  of  Panama,  pro- 
ceed with  this  truthful  sketch  of  the  Isth- 
mus, and  of  the  railroad  ride  I  had  across  it 
a  few  mornings  ago. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  21 

Comfortably  seated  in  one  of  the  new,  pa- 
latial passenger-cars,  which  had  lately  been 
put  into  service,  I  watched  the  beautiful 
fields  stretch  out  in  all  their  pensive  quiet- 
ness— the  peaceful  flow  of  the  lakes  and 
rivers,  as  our  train  dashed  madly  by — puff- 
ing— panting — snorting — eager,  it  seemed, 
for  the  end  of  its  journey. 

The  scene  was  simply  enchanting:  the 
whole  view  of  the  surrounding  country  lay 
before  me  like  a  beautiful  panorama;  for 
the  Jungle-wood,  all  around  and  about  it, 
was  wild-flower  dotted,  while  the  air  was 
cool  and  balmy,  and  redolent  of  those 
strange,  soft  odors,  which  are  natural  to  the 
tropics!  On  the  trees  of  the  green,  dense 
forests,  the  rains,  which  had  fallen  the  night 
before,  had  left  their  heavenly  benedictions 
in  large,  white  crystal  drops,  which  scin- 
tillated beneath  the  rays  of  the  early  morn- 
ing sun,  until  it  seemed  as  though  you  were 
being  hurried  through  fields  upon  fields  of 
myriad  and  myriad  of  diamonds ! 

And  yet,  despite  of  all  these  beauties  sur- 
rounding us ;  despite  of  all  that  has  been  ac- 


22  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

coniplished,  and  that  still  is  doing  on  the 
great  world-work  of  uniting  two  oceans,  we 
are  "coolly"  told  by  our  "friends"  abroad, 
that  we  live  beyond  the  pale  of  civilization 
— that  we  are  making  no  progress  on  the 
Canal  whatever — spending  money,  only, 
and  "sawing  wood,"  as  the  paradoxical  say- 
ing goes. 

But  this,  no  doubt,  is  the  light  in  which 
we  are  seen  by  those  who  have  had  their  pro- 
verbial axes  to  grind,  but  whose  repeated 
approaches  have  been  repulsed  by  the  hon- 
est Grindstones,  that  have  refused  to  revolve 
around  their  independent  axles — irrespon- 
sive to  the  touch  of  wooing  blades,  whose 
disappointments  have  ever  been  vented 
through  the  frenzied  passions  of  venal  pens ! 

And  yet,  if  the  sun  paints  true,  as  it  must 
always,  for  God  is  Truth,  perhaps  the  photo- 
graphs which  accompany  this  little  sketch 
of  mine,  when  compared  with  the  pictures 
of  the  Past,  will  serve  as  ample  testimony  to 
the  glorious  achievements  of  the  present 
day. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  23 


PART  IV. 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama,  which  lies  east 
and  west  on  the  map,  is  crossed  by  a  long 
chain  of  low-lying  mountains,  whose  ex- 
treme altitudes  do  not  exceed  a  thousand 
feet  at  any  point  along  the  line  of  the  rail- 
road. 

Colon,  the  Atlantic  terminus,  once  known 
as  Aspinwall,  and  so  named  by  the  first 
American  comers  in  memory  of  the  father  of 
the  Panama  Railroad,  is  a  small,  flourish- 
ing town,  about  one  mile  long,  and  situated 
on  the  Island  of  Manzanillo. 

To  passengers  on  the  in-coming  steamers, 
the  harbor  presents  a  most  picturesque  ap- 
pearance, especially  so  from  that  part  of  it 
generally  known  as  the  "Beach,"  which  is 
crescent-shaped  and  enveloped  in  a  veritable 
labyrinth  of  cocoanut-trees,  between  whose 
multiceptered  branches  nestles  the  group  of 
buildings  occupied,  principally,  by  the  offi- 


24  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

cials  and  employes  of  the  "Parent  Com- 
pany." Notably  among  these,  is  the  Gen- 
eral Manager's  residence,  with  its  lofty  cu- 
pola overlooking  the  broad  and  beautiful 
Caribbean. 

To  the  eastern  end  of  the  town  are  situa- 
ted the  magnificent  hospitals,  which  were 
built  by  the  Commission  for  the  care  of 
their  sick  employes.  From  the  same  source, 
also,  the  indigent  patients  of  Colon,  enjoy 
the  benefits  of  free  medicines  and  the  best  of 
medical  attention. 

The  equipment  and  personnel  of  these 
hospitals,  leave  nothing  to  be  desired,  being 
fit  to  rank  with  any  of  those  of  the  larger 
cities  in  the  United  States.  In  the  equip- 
ment, one  finds  the  most  improved  and  mod- 
ern appliances  in  the  personnel,  the  highest 
standard  of  talent  and  ability  in  doctors 
and  nurses. 

But  this  is  not,  by  any  means,  the  one  and 
only  boon  which  the  Americans  have  con- 
ferred upon  Colon  since  their  advent  on  the 
Isthmus.  They  have  given  us  paved  Streets, 
an  ample  Water  Supply,  with  hydrants  at 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  25 

almost  every  corner,  a  Cold  Storage  Plant, 
which  is  replenished  weekly  with  meats, 
fruit,  and  vegetables  from  the  best  markets 
in  the  United  States;  a  Steam  Laundry  and 
Bakery;  an  efficient  Fire  Brigade,  capable 
of  coping  with  any  conflagration ;  Free  Pub- 
lic Schools  in  the  Zone;  a  "Wireless  Tele- 
graph" Station;  a  complete  system  of 
Drainage;  and,  last,  though  not  least,  im- 
proved Sanitary  arrangements — a  blessing 
hitherto  unknown  in  the  history  of  the  Isth- 
mus. 

When  all  these  things  are  reviewed  in  the 
minds  of  impartial  critics,  acquainted  with 
the  conditions  of  the  town,  as  I  remember 
them  in  the  years  gone  by,  they  should, 
certainly,  leave  the  impression  that 
our  evolution,  from  a  series  of  mud-flats  and 
salt  marshes,  has  been  most  wonderful.  At 
home,  we  see  ourselves  rising,  rapidly,  "on 
stepping  stones  from  our  dead  selves  to 
higher  things,"  and  fast  approaching  a  stage 
when  Colon,  metaphorically  speaking,  will 
find  herself  dressed  out  in  the  full  regalia 
of  a  modern  city. 


26  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

The  present  population  of  Colon  is  va- 
riously estimated ;  but  I  would  not  think  of 
putting  it  doAvn  for  anything  less  than  ten 
thousand  souls,  which  figure,  of  course,  will 
keep  on  increasing  as  work  progresses  on 
the  Canal. 

Our  seasons  of  the  year  are  two:  "The 
Dry-'  and  "The  Rainy"  seasons;  the  one  be- 
gins in  the  month  of  December,  and  the 
other  in  the  early  part  of  April.  Yet  some 
"kind  friend,"  Avho  tried  to  be  facetious, 
once  said  that  our  two  seasons  were:  "The 
Wet  and  the  Kainy  Seasons!"  Colon,  of 
course,  is  always  at  her  best  during  the 
"Dry  Season ;"  for  the  sun  is  brightest  then, 
and  the  northeast  trade-winds  are  blowing  a 
half  o'  gale !  And  it  is  at  this  period  of  the 
year,  too,  that  the  sea  puts  on  her  robe  of 
deepest  sapphire,  and  the  white  spumescent 
surf  comes  rolling  in  upon  the  shore  with  a 
mad,  glad  thunder,  whose  music  is  all  of  its 
own! 

Colon  is  divided  into  three  distinct  sec- 
tions: first,  there  is  the  commercial  part  of 
the  town,  of  which  Front  Street  is  the  chief 


XATURE    AXD    LIFE.  27 

thoroughfare;  second,  there  is  the  "Beach," 
which  has  already  been  described,  and, 
third,  there  is  Cristobal,  where  the  offices  of 
the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission  and  the 
residences  of  its  employes  are  pleasantly 
situated.  This  settlement,  which  Avas  once 
a  "Swampy  Eden,"  minus  a  Mark  Tapley 
and  a  young  Clmzzlewit,  is  noAv  a  beautiful 
little  spot,  laid  out  with  picturesque  wooden 
cottages,  which  are  shaded  by  long  rows  of 
cocoanut  trees.  The  principal  thorough- 
fare in  this  direction,  is  "Palm  Avenue,"  at 
the  end  of  which  are  the  two  famous  "De 
Lesseps'  Palaces,"  which  are  now  being  used 
as  offices :  one  by  the  Engineering  and  Con- 
structing Department,  and  the  other  by  Mr. 
W.  G.  Tubby,  the  indefatigable  Chief  of  the 
Division  of  Material  and  Supplies,  through 
Avliose  hands  must  pass  the  multiplicity  of 
articles — from  a  pick  to  a  steam-slibvel— 
necessary  for  the  construction  of  the  great 
Isthmian  Water-way ! 

Immediately  opposite  to  these  two  pal- 
aces, Avhich  have  lately  undergone  extensive 
repairs  and  alterations,  stands  the  imposing 


28  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

bronze  statue  of  Christopher  Columbus  like 
a  sentinel  guarding  the  Atlantic  entrance  of 
the  Canal. 

Cristobal  boasts  of  its  own  independent 
harbor,  which,  from  being  situated  at  the 
entrance  of  the  Canal,  and  consequently  in 
the  Zone,  is  essentially  American.  It  has 
two  large  docks — Nos.  11  and  14 — which 
are  now  in  operation,  and  which  have  af- 
forded considerable  relief  to  the  docks  in 
the  Port  of  Colon,  proper,  which  latter  have 
been  unable  to  cope  with  the  increased  de- 
mands of  the  shipping  lately.  The  docks 
are  provided  with  a  Cantilever-Crane  for 
the  handling  of  ordinary  cargoes,  and  a 
Brown-Hoist  Coal  Plant  for  the  discharge 
of  colliers. 

For  the  past  year  or  so,  Cristobal  has 
been  making  rapid  strides  in  the  way  of  ex- 
pansion towards  the  district  known  as  "Fox 
River/'  which  she  is  so  steadily  absorbing 
that  she  now  shows  signs  of  finally  converg- 
ing into  Mount  Hope,  a  village  some  two 
miles  distant  from  Colon,  and  where  an  ex- 


Mr.  W.  G.  Tubby,  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Material  and 
Supplies. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  29 

temive  Rail  Road  Yard  has  lately  been  con- 
structed. 

This  happy  condition  of  things  has  been 
the  result  of  the  constant  and  increasing  de- 
mand for  land-space  required  for  extra  Ca- 
nal and  Rail  Road  facilities,  made  neces- 
sary in  consequence  of  the  vast  progress  in 
the  work  of  the  one,  and  the  notable  exten- 
sions and  betterments,  which  the  other  is 
daily  undergoing.  And  just  here  I  must  not 
forget  to  mention  the  new  Train  Yard  which 
has  been  built  at  Pox  River,  the  magnitude 
of  which  can  be  rapidly  conceived  when  my 
readers  are  told  that  it  takes  in  some  twelve 
miles  of  steel  track,  and  not  less  than  eighty 
five  switches !  Then,  there  are  the  new  and 
commodious  Machine  Shops,  Round  Houses, 
Turn-Tables,  Coal-Chute,  all  of  which  are 
now  in  satisfactory  operation.  In  addition 
to  these  improvements,  there  is  the  old 
Frencli  Dry-Dock,  at  present  in  the  course 
of  reconstruction,  and  which,  when  com- 
pleted, will  be  capable  of  accommodating 
steamers  of  about  three  thousand  tons  reg- 
ister— all  of  which  has  been  the  work  of  a 


30  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

new  and  strenuous  regime,  and  the  outcome 
of  the  true  Americanism  which  has  been  dis- 
played by  Mr.  Jno.  F.  Stevens,  Chief  Engi- 
neer of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission, 
and  Mr.  W.  G.  Bierd,  General  Manager  of 
the  Panama  Rail  Road  Company — the  two 
leading  spirits,  on  the  Isthmus,  of  Canal 
and  Rail  Road  operations. 


Mr.  Jno.  F.  Stevens,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  I.  C.  C, 


Mr.  W.  G.  Bierd,  General  Manager  of  the  Panama  Rail 
Road  Company. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  31 


PART  V. 

Between  Cristobal  and  Panama,  there 
are,  altogether,  some  twenty-five  stations, 
the  most  important  ones  among  them  being : 
Mount  Hope,  Gatun,  Bohio,  Frijoles,  Gor- 
gona,  Matachin,  Bas  Obispo,  Empire,  and 
Culebra,  all  of  which  are  mentioned  in  the 
order  of  distances  from  Colon. 

MOUNT  HOPE. 

Mount  Hope  is  where  the  Canal  Commis- 
sion has  an  immense  Warehouse,  measuring 
488  feet  long  by  149  feet  wide,  which  is  a 
model  of  its  kind,  for  the  neat  and  tidy  ar- 
rangement of  the  thousand  and  one  differ- 
ent articles  which  are  stored  within  its 
walls.  It  has  a  Fire  Brigade  of  its  own, 
which  is  composed  of  the  Clerical  Staff, 
whose  alertness  is  oftentimes  unexpectedly 
surprised  by  the  sound  of  a  false  alarm  of 
fire,  when  every  man  rushes  to  his  post  im- 


32  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

mediately;  some  with  hose  and  others  with 
axes,  in  order  to  show  how  ready  Avould  be 
the  response  in  the  event  of  a  real  emer- 
gency. When  President  Roosevelt  paid  a 
visit  of  inspection  to  this  warehouse,  he 
passed  his  approval  of  it  in  the  following 
manner : 

"Well,  I  see,  you've  got  a  nice,  big  place 
here,"  he  said,  smiling  broadly,  as  he  walked 
away  and  boarded  his  palace  car,  "La 
France !" 

A  short  distance  from  this  warehouse,  is 
situated  the  Cemetery  for  the  burial  of  the 
dead  of  Colon  and  of  the  neighboring  dis- 
tricts. Then,  a  little  way  beyond  the  Pas- 
senger Depot,  over  the  Hills,  there  is  the 
Reservoir  which  supplies  the  Atlantic  Ter- 
minus with  water,  and  which,  lately,  has 
bee.n  the  target  for  severe  and  unmerited 
criticism  from  abroad. 

The  population  of  Mount  Hope,  formerly 
called  Monkey  Hill,  is  a  mixed  one,  but  it  is 
principally  composed  of  Jamaica  negroes, 
with  a  small  sprinkling  of  the  Chinese  ele- 
ment. In  this  little  settlement  of  triple- 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  33 

unique  importance,  some  slight  effort  has 
been  made,  it  seems,  in  the  way  of  agricul- 
ture; for  yams,  plantains,  cocoas,  lemons, 
oranges  and  bananas  are  cultivated  by  the 
dwellers  there  and  sent  in  to  the  nearest 
market  for  sale  at  exorbitant  prices !  Be- 
sides these,  there  is  the  luscious  guava, 
which  grows  wild,  and  abundantly,  in  the 
quiet  little  Cemetery  on  the  brow  of  the  Hill, 
where  the  countless  dead,  of  ages  past,  sleep 
their  last,  long  sleep  'midst  the  songs  of 
strange  wild  birds,  and  the  lullabies  of  beau- 
tiful tropical  palm-trees 

GATUN. 

Gatun  is  situated  on  the  famous  Chagres 
River,  which  is  one  of  the  difficult  problems 
in  the  building  of  the  Canal.  This  river, 
Avhich  has  its  mad  fits  and  passions,  at 
times  to  the  extent  of  inundating  the  Kail 
Road  tracks  and  interrupting  the  traffic 
across  the  Isthmus  occasionally,  is  some- 
thing like  one  hundred  miles  long,  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  wide,  with  a  depth,  in 
{••.nine  places,  of  twenty  feet  of  water.  It  be- 


31  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

gins  at  Cerro  de  Pacora,  or  Tapia,  Moun- 
tains, courses  through  Gatun,  San  Pablo, 
and  Matachin,  a  distance  of  some  thirty 
miles  from  Colon,  and  ends  at  historic  San 
Lorenzo,  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The 
traffic  on  this  river,  which  is  very  considera- 
ble, is  conducted,  chiefly,  by  means  of  Cayu- 
cos,  or  native  dugouts,  that  carry  the  va- 
rious products  from  the  different  settle- 
ments along  the  route,  to  Colon,  either  for 
local  consumption  or  for  shipment  abroad. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  generally  known  that 
Gatun,  which  is  now  the  scene  of  great 
Canal  activity,  was  the  first  Station  of  Rail 
Road  operations.  This  was  in  November, 
1851,  when  a  thousand  immigrants  were 
transported  there  on  their  way  to  California 
and  Oregon.  It  is  one  of  those  stations 
that  are  still  tenacious  of  their  native  color 
and  individuality;  but  the  Americans  are 
rapidly  rubbing  these  off  the  slate  of  Time 
with  the  preparatory  work  they  are  doing 
in  connection  with  the  building  of  the  Dam 
which  is  to  control  the  mighty  waters  of  the 
Chagres  River,  on  the  other  side  of  which, 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  35 

looking  from  the  Kail  Road  Station,  is  the 
old  Native  Settlement  of  Gatun,  with  its 
primitive  thatched-cabins  and  its  ancient 
wooden  church,  the  shadow  of  whose  tall, 
antiquated  steeple  with  its  sainted  cross,  re- 
flects, like  a  holy  benediction,  on  the  surface 
of  the  sometimes-peaceful  waters  of  the 
river.  This  village  is  soon  to  be  demol- 
ished, because  it  occupies  a  portion  of  the 
site  of  the  great  Dam,  which  is  now  in  the 
course  of  construction.  The  dwellers  of 
this  place  are  a  kind  and  hospitable  people 
to  foreigners  that  go  among  them,  and  to 
whom,  on  first  acquaintance,  they  will 
pledge  eternal  friendships  in  a  drink  of 
Chicha,  a  native  beverage,  made  of  corn, 
rice,  and  barley,  which  is  intoxicating  only 
after  long  fermentation.  Gatun  is  the  most 
important  banana  district  on  the  the  line  of 
the  Bail  Road.  The  fruit  is  loaded  into  box 
cars  and  conveyed  to  Colon  for  shipment  to 
the  United  States.  The  banana  business 
has  been  such  a  profitable  one  to  the  local 
exporters  that,  from  time  to  time,  it  has  in- 
vited the  competition  of  foreign  speculators, 


36  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

who  were  temporarily  lured  into  the  mar- 
ket, until  they  had  lost  sufficient  money  in 
it  to  induce  them,  finally,  to  leave  the  field 
to  those  who  had  given  the  first  impetus  to 
the  trade.  The  banana  may  be  said  to  be 
the  chief  product  exported  from  the  Isth- 
mus. 

BOHIO. 

From  a  Canal  standpoint,  there  is  little 
to  be  said  about  this  Station  at  the  present 
writing.  From  a  Kail  Koad  sense,  its  his- 
tory dates  as  far  back  as  the  early  days  of 
construction,  when  its,  seemingly,  exhaust- 
less  quarry  furnished  the  necessary  rock  for 
the  ballasting  of  the  forty-seven  miles  of 
road-bed  which  stretches  between  Colon  and 
Panama.  It  was  from  this  same  quarry, 
too,,  that  the  stones  were  hewn  for  the  con- 
struction of  that  beautiful  edifice,  on  the 
Beach,  known  as  "Christ  Church/'  which 
was  most  shamefully  desecrated  in  the  Pres- 
tan  Year  of  1885,  when  it  was  converted 
into  a  temporary  prison  for  the  incarcera- 
tion of  the  offenders  of  that  ever-memorable 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  37 

period!  Among  the  prisoners  within  the 
walls  of  this  sacred  building  at  the  time, 
was  an  old  Englishman,  who  had  been  a 
banker  for  years  in  Colon,  and  with  whom 
the  poorer  classes  of  the  town  were  accus- 
tomed to  lodge  their  hard-earned  wages, 
weekly,  and  which,  on  March  30th,  1885, 
when  Colon  was  almost  totally  destroyed  by 
fire,  assumed  the  vast  proportion  of  some- 
thing in  the  neighborhood  of  fifty  thousand 
dollars,  which  the  wily  Englishman  placed 
in  an  open  boat,  ready  to  abscond  with  it 
in  a  schooner  that  waited  for  him  a  little 
distance  out  in  the  Bay.  But  the  fellow  was 
foiled  in  the  act  that  would  have  impover- 
ished so  many ;  for  he  was  made  to  disgorge 
the  contents  of  his  treasure-laden  Caynco, 
upon  the  threat  of  marching  him  to  the  gal- 
lows to  be  hung  forthwith. 

The  present  status  of  Bohio,  as  a  Rail 
Road  Station,  must  be  measured  by  the  ex- 
tent of  its  importance  as  a  Commercial  cen- 
tre, which  I  know,  from  experience,  to  be 
equal  to  that  of  any  of  the  larger  Stations 
along  the  line  of  the  Rail  Road. 


38  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

From  a  personal  and  social  point  of  view, 
ho\vever,  I  have,  ever  since  I  paid  my  first 
visit  to  Bohio,  looked  upon  the  place  as  my 
favorite  picnic-ground,  associated  with 
pleasant  memories  of  the  hospitality  of  Don 
Porfirio  Melendez,  the  present  popular  Gov- 
ernor of  Colon,  whose  residence  is  situated 
there. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  first  day  I  spent  in 
this  house  by  special  invitation.  It  was  on 
a  Sunday,  and  the  place  was  crowded  with 
visitors.  As  I  walked  in,  accompanied  by 
those  who  had  come  in  on  the  same  train 
with  me,  the  Governor  stepped  up  to  me, 
took  my  hand  in  his,  and,  shaking  it  heart- 
ily, said  in  a  tone  of  voice  which  rang  out 
with  a  welcome  for  all : 

"Ola!  mi  amiyo — You  are  just  in  time! 
Marcos  is  very  sick — come  inside,  and  see 
him  before  he  dies!"  But  while  he  told  me 
this  with  a  smile  upon  his  countenance, 
which  I  could  not  very  well  reconcile  with 
the  deep  meaning  of  his  speech,  I  noticed  a 


"Christ  Church,"  Colon. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  39 

puzzled,  solemn  look  upon  the  faces  of  those 
who  had  just  come  in  with  me.  I,  too,  was 
disturbed;  for  I  saw  before  me  the  end  of  a 
picnic,  not  yet  begun,  and  the  picture  of  a 
funeral,  for  which  none  of  us  had  bargained 
at  all.  Despite  of  our  embarrassment,  how- 
ever, Don  Porfirio  still  smiled  on,  as  he  led 
the  way  towards  the  back  of  the  house,  beck- 
oning to  us  to  follow  him. 

"Come  this  way,"  he  said,  "Caballeros,  I 
want  to  show  you  poor  Marcos" ;  and  we  all 
followed  him,  mechanically,  until,  to  our 
great  surprise,  we  found  ourselves  in  the 
dining-room,  where  there  was  a  large  table, 
spread  with  an  immaculate  white  cloth, 
upon  which  there  stood  a  formidable  look- 
ing Punch-bowl,  with  enough  of  the  "Rosy" 
swirling  in  it  as  to  drown  the  entire  gather- 
ing. Our  genial  host  stood  at  the  head  of 
the  table,  looking  down  triumphantly  on  the 
bowl ;  finally,  he  pointed  to  it,  and,  with  the 
same  persistent  smile  upon  his  countenance, 
said  to  the  guests  present : 

"Caballeros! — there  is  poor  Marcos — he 
is  dead;  come  on,  now,  we  have  to  bury 


40  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

him !"  at  which  a  hearty  laughter  arose,  and 
went  the  full  round  of  the  festive  table — the 
glasses,  too,  till  Marcos  was,  finally,  buried, 
and  resurrected,  perhaps,  by  not  a  few  that 
composed  the  happy  gathering  of  that  day ! 
From  that  time,  and  until  the  present 
date,  I  have  always  remembered  the  mean- 
ing attached  to  "Marcos'-  whenever  I  have 
been  to  spend  a  day  in  the  Governor's  hospi- 
table house,  situated  on  the  highest  point  in 
the  district,  and  from  which  you  look  down 
on  the  far-stretching  hills  and  valleys  that 
surround  the  beautiful  country  of  Bohio. 

FRIJOLES. 

At  one  time,  this  Station,  save  for  supply- 
ing the  passing  locomotive  with  water,  was, 
practically,  ignored  as  a  "Stopping  Point" 
for  passengers.  But  since  the  advent  of  the 
Americans,  it  has  grown  into  importance, 
and  donned  the  improved  habiliments  of  the 
times.  Only  a  few  mornings  ago,  when  our 
train  stopped  there,  I  could  scarcely  recog- 
nize the  place  for  the  great  changes  which 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  41 

had  come  over  it.  A  new  Freight  and  Pas- 
senger Depot  had  been  built  to  meet  the  in- 
creased demands  of  the  traffic  there;  and  a 
group  of  pretty  little  cottages,  erected  by 
the  Canal  Commission  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of 'its  employes,  formed  a  picturesque 
background  to  this  rejuvenated  Station. 

To-day,  the  only  building  which  serves  as 
a  landmark  of  the  Frijoles  of  the  past,  is  an 
old  two-story,  whitewashed  house,  which 
stands  up  proudly  near  the  Rail  Road  track, 
and  which,  in  the  year  1881,  was  used  as  a 
laundry,  where  the  "Boys"  of  Colon  sent 
their  clothing  to  be  washed. 

Frijoles  may  be  said  to  be  the  principal 
"Water  Station"  along  the  line  of  the  Rail 
Road.  As  your  train  passes  over  the  tres- 
tlework  viaduct  there,  your  attention  is 
drawn,  at  once,  to  the  swirling  sound  of 
water  near  by;  and  the  first  impulse  that 
you  feel,  at  the  moment,  is  to  put  your  head 
through  the  window  of  the  car,  and  gaze 
around  enquiringly,  to  locate  the  spot  from 
which  the  babbling  sound  arose. 

Then,  beneath  you,  into  a  deep  ravine,  on 


42  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

the  summit  of  which  your  train  is  passing, 
you  see  a  clear-white,  crystal  stream,  rush- 
ing madly  down  the  incline  of  a  moss-grown 
cemented  terrace,  until,  with  spumescent 
bubbles,  it  is  caught  into  the  boiling  mael- 
strom of  the  deeper  pool  below,  and  carried 
away  on  the  bosom  of  the  stronger  current. 
Here,  the  native  women,  with  their  skirts 
raised  high  up  to  their  knees,  and  their  scant 
upper,  garments  opened  wide  enough  to 
make  them  anatomically  expressive,  wash 
their  clothes,  daily,  then  beat  them  on  big, 
white  rocks  with  a  swish! — swish! — swish! 
that  echoes  throughout  the  jungle. 

GORGONA. 

There  has  always  been  much  to  say,  and 
much  to  write,  about  this  delightful  spot 
along  the  line  of  the  Rail  Koad;  but  now 
there  is  still  more,  on  account  of  the  better 
conditions  which  have  prevailed  since  the 
Americans  went  that  way  and,  so  to  speak, 
lifted  the  place  from  out  the  Pompeii  of  the 
Past,  to  that  of  its  present  status,  enjoyinj 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  43 

the  improvements  and  conveniences  of  a 
modern  city,  hitherto  unknown  in  the  his- 
tory of  this  district. 

Gorgona  is  the  favorite  summer  resort  of 
the  Panamanians,  who  go  there,  every  year, 
to  spend  the  Dry  Season,  in  order  to  escape 
the  dust  of  the  Metropolis  and  the  trying 
heat  of  the  Verano  months. 

Topographically,  Gorgona  stands  upon 
the  summit  of  two  slight  elevations,  inter- 
sected by  the  Rail  Road  lines,  which  divide 
the  Station  into  two  distinct  and  separate 
sections — the  one  on  the  left,  going  towards 
Panama,  being  the  original  Native  Settle- 
ment, where  there  is  a  road  branching  off  to 
a  steep,  narrow  pathway,  upon  each  side  of 
which  the  residences  of  the  employes  of  the 
Isthmian  Canal  Commission  are  situated. 

Beyond  this,  after  descending  a  tall  flight 
of  wooden  stairs,  you  come  to  a  trail,  along 
the  Rail  Road  tracks,  which  leads  you  to  the 
immense  Warehouses  of  the  Material  and 
Supply  Department,  and  the  I.  C.  C.  Ma- 
chine Shops,  Round  Houses  and  Foundry, 
the  equipment  of  all  of  which  will  vie  with 


44  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

anything  of  their  kind  in  the  United  States 
of  America. 

The  Section  to  the  right,  going  south,  is 
exclusively  "Canal."  Here  the  cluster  of 
houses,  rising,  gradually,  on  the  hill,  with 
the  Music  Stand,  at  the  slope,  forming  a 
frontispiece  to  the  whole,  presents  a  charm- 
ing picture  to  the  eye  as  you  look  across  that 
way.  These  houses,  which  were  built  by  the 
Commission,  consist  mainly  of  hotels, 
school-rooms,  bachelors'  and  married  quarv 
ters,  clubs,  reading-rooms  and  hospitals,  all 
of  them  screened  with  wire-netting  in  order 
to  keep  out  the  dreaded  mosquitoes,  which 
are  now  almost  exterminated.  There  is 
also  the  Commissariat  of  the  Panama  Rail 
Road  Company  which  supplies  its  employes, 
and  those  of  the  Commission,  with  provi- 
sions, groceries,  and  other  necessaries  of  life 
at  cost  prices,  and  a  little  over  to  cover  the 
expense  of  freight  and  handling. 

At  Gorgona,  there  is  water  installed  in 
every  house  of  the  Commission;  and  an  am- 
ple supply  is  obtainable  along  the  streets 
from  the  hydrants  which  have  been  placed 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  45 

at  almost  every  corner,  and  from  which  the 
inhabitants,  in  general,  help  themselves 
bountifully. 

To-day,  Gorgona  pulses  with  the  life  and 
activity  born  of  the  upper  district  of  Canal 
operations  between  Bas  Obispo.  and  Cule- 
bra;  for  not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  "Work  Trains"  pass  there  daily, 
with  their  loads  of  rock  and  dirt,  which  are 
taken  to  Mamei  and  Tabernilla,  two  of  the 
Stations  lower  down,  to  fill  in  marsh-lands, 
and  to  widen  the  ways  for  the  double-track- 
ing of  the  Panama  Rail  Road,  the  work  of 
which  is  now  in  a  fairly  advanced  condition. 

As  the  various  trains  dashed  by  me,  I  be- 
thought myself  of  the  object-lesson  they  af- 
forded to  one  who  was  not  a  builder  of  the 
World,  and  I  realized,  at  once,  in  this  enor- 
mous traffic  of  common  dirt  and  rock,  the 
full  text  and  meaning  of  the  glorious  work 
which  the  Americans  were  doing  on  the 
Isthmus. 

Socially,  Gorgona  is  not,  by  any  means, 
behind  the  times  in  the  programme  of 
amusements  characteristic  of  the  other  Sta- 


46  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

tions  along  the  line  of  the  Zone  to-day :  It 
has  its  bachelor  parties,  which  are  given  in 
return  for  the  entertainments  tendered  by 
the  married  folks  of  that  pleasant  district; 
its  Masonic  sociables;  its  Saturday  evening 
dances,  and  its  gossipy  teas,  the  latter  in- 
tended for  the  sole  benefit  and  delectation 
of  the  fair  sex,  because  of  the  opportunities 
they  offer  for  talking  among  themselves,  and 
to  a  gilt-edged  finish,  the  private  business  of 
their  neighbors. 

I  have  used  the  term  "gossipy"  advisedly ; 
for  teas,  as  a  rule,  are  bound  to  be  so  when 
they  are  exclusively  composed  of  ladies, 
caparisoned  in  tall-feathered  hats,  sitting 
around  a  table,  leisurely  sipping  their  tea 
the  while  they  criticise  the  dresses  which 
Mrs.  So  and  So  had  worn  at  the  club-dance 
the  evening  before,  until  all  hands  would 
exclaim,  by  way  of  a  unanimous  verdict : 
"Oh!— didn't  they  look  just  horrible!" 
Then,  they  would  switch  off,  perhaps,  to 
a  lengthy  discussion  upon  the  subject  of  an 
imaginary  purchase  of  some  five  hundred 
dollars  worth  of  embroidered  kkirts  and 


\  (TURE    AND    LIFE.  47 

blouses,  which  Mrs.  So,  the}7  "heard,"  had 
made  of  an  itinerant  East  Indian  trader, 
who  was  passing  through  Colon;  at  which 
piece  of  hear-say  information  the  barometer 
of  the  "tea"  would  rise  to  its  highest  pitch 
of  curiosity  and  excitement,  culminating  in 
everybody  asking,  with  a  jealous  ring  in 
each  voice : 

"Oh,  how  can  Mrs.  'So'  afford  to  do  such 
extravagant  things  on  the  small  salary 
which  her  husband  is  getting?" — a  question 
that  would  vex  and  tax  the  speculative  in- 
genuity of  any  feminine  gathering ! 

If  I  were  asked  to  give  my  opinion  of  tea- 
parties,  in  general,  I  would  not,  for  a  mo- 
ment, hesitate  in  saying,  that  they  struck  me 
as  being  the  Parliaments  for  women  to  dis- 
cuss the  affairs  of  other  people  in,  and  to  ex- 
patiate upon  them,  even  to  the  extent  of 
marring  the  domestic  happiness  of  others. 

But  these  remarks,  which  are  altogether 
impersonal,  are  neither  here  nor  there  to  the 
social  amenities  of  Gorgona,  that  tend,  no 
doubt,  to  bridge  the  time  between  Labor  and 


48  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Vacation  for  the  Boys  whose  sweethearts 
are  over  the  boundless  waters. 


MATACHIN. 

Matachin  still  retains  the  same  old  sem- 
blance as  it  did  in  the  days  of  the  French 
regime;  the  only  perceptible  difference  be- 
ing the  presence  of  "Old  Glory,"  flying 
above  the  Zone  Police  Station,  to  indicate 
the  memorable  transition  from  November 
the  3rd,  1903,  to  the  present  time  of  writing. 

Matachin  is  not  a  very  euphonious  nomen- 
clature, but  the  blood-thrilling  incident, 
from  which  it  took  its  origin,  somewhere 
about  the  year  1852,  the  period  of  Rail  Road 
Construction,  would  make  a  weird  and  grue- 
some page  in  the  history  of  the  Panama 
Isthmus,  whenever  the  time  shall  come  for 
it  to  be  written.  The  story,  according  to  the 
telling  of  the  best-informed  "Old  Timers," 
runs  this  way : 

It  appears  that  a  number  of  Chinamen, 
who  were  employed  as  track  laborers  in  that 
section  of  the  country,  committed  suicide, 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  49 

daily,  by  hanging  themselves  until  the  en- 
tire Chinese  colony  was,  finally,  extermi- 
nated. It  is  said  that  it  was  a  most  grotesque 
sight  to  see,  each  morning,  seven  or  eight 
of  these  Celestials  hanging,  by  their  necks, 
to  the  trees  of  the  forest  or,  perhaps,  to  some 
post  or  other  in  the  neighborhood;  their 
lifeless  forms  stiffened  out  to  a  tension; 
their  tongues  protruding  from  their  mouths 
— their  eyes  wide  open  and  looking  at  you 
with  a  fixed,  glassy  stare  through  which  the 
silver  rays  of  the  early  morning  sun  re- 
flected hideously! 

The  reason  given  for  this  self-executed 
carnage  is,  that  the  Chinamen,  being  far 
away  from  the  Fatherland,  had  become 
homesick;  and  so,  under  the  mad  delirium 
of  nostalgia,  resorted  to  death  as  the  best 
way  out  of  their  miseries— trusting,  as  they 
did,  no  doubt,  to  their  unshaken  belief  in  the 
beautiful  doctrine  of  Confucius,  which  had 
promised  them,  as  they  had  read  it  in  their 
childhood  days,  to  be  taken  up  to  heaven 
by  means  of  their  plaited  queues. 

Literally  translated,  from  the  Spanish  to 


50  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

English,  the  word  "Matachin"  signifies 
"Kill  Chinaman" — hence  the  name  by  which 
the  natives  christened  it  in  the  days  of  the 
early  history  of  the  Road;  the  name  by 
which  it  will  ever  be  known. 

Matachin  has  not  yet  felt  the  vigorous 
touch  of  Canal  activity  which  characterizes 
some  of  the  other  Stations  along  the  line  of 
the  Zone  to-day ;  but  the  time  is  now  rapidly 
approaching  when  she  will  take  her  place  in 
the  march  of  the  World's  great  work,  which 
is  hers  by  right  of  situation,  because  of  her 
being  the  genesis  of  the  heaviest  excavations 
which  are  yet  to  be  done  from  that  point  to 
Pedro  Miguel,  a  distance  of  some  twelve 
miles. 

In  former  years,  Matachin  was  the  meet- 
ing Station  for  all  trains  of  the  Panama 
Rail  Road  Company,  to  the  passenger  trains 
of  which  the  natives  of  the  village  would  go 
out  with  their  baskets  loaded  down  with 
bananas,  oranges,  milk  and  boyo  (the  last 
named  article  being  a  preparation  of  corn 
and  rice,  wrapped  in  leaf),  which  they 
would  offer  for  sale  to  the  hungry  passen- 


y ATI  RE    AND    LIFE.  51 

gers  who,  in  those  days  were  subject  to  a 
tiresome  five-hour  time-table  for  a  short  run 
of  forty-seven  miles  between  the  two  ter- 
mini. 

But,  in  the  mad  expectancy  of  the  Na- 
tives in  the  near-future  Canal  operations  in 
this  district,  those  familiar  scenes  are  rele- 
gated to  the  Past  now ;  for,  to-day,  you  look 
through  the  window  of  the  car  and  listen,  in 
vain,  for  the  cries  of  "Gineos!" — "Naran- 
jas!" — "Leche!" — "Boyo!"  which  you  were 
wont  to  hear  in  former  years,  as  the  train 
hauled  up  to  the  Station.  Even  the  Flower- 
Girl,  in  Po//cra-Costume,  is  missing  also— 
to  say  nothing  of  the  absence  of  dear 
"Mother"  Brown,  who  used  to  sharpen  the 
appetites  of  the  Old  Rail  Road  Boys  with 
her  delightful  cocktails,  her  Jamaica  and 
Scotch  and  Rye,  for  the  bountiful  meals 
which  she  would  serve  them  with  whenever 
they  had  occasion  to  stop  over  at  Matachin. 
Yes!  all  these  little  incidents  and  living 
landmarks,  which  go  to  make  up  history, 
have  disappeared  from  the  scenes,  entirely; 


52  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

but  an  abiding  memory  is  tenacious  of  them 
all. 

BAS  OBISPO. 

The  importance  of  Bas  Obispo,  on  ac- 
count of  the  "Cut,"  which  the  French 
called  "La  Corosita,"  after  the  name  of  a 
prickly  palm-tree,  which  grew  abundantly 
upon  a  mountain  in  that  district,  is  not,  by 
any  means,  to  be  underestimated,  since  it 
involves  a  large  share  of  the  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  glorious  and  gigantic  task 
of  uniting  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans 
— It  is,  so  to  speak,  the  Junior-Culebra ; 
and  who  knows  but  what  it  will  give  as 
much  trouble  as  its  senior-brother,  situated 
some  five  miles  and  a  half  away,  reckoning 
from  north  to  south? 

Here,  the  houses,  for  the  most  part,  are 
those  which  were  left  by  the  French  Com- 
pany, but  which  have  since  been  repaired 
and  painted  by  the  Isthmian  Canal  Com- 
mission, and  put  into  such  good  shape  as  to 
render  them  all  as  comfortable  as  the  new 
buildings  lately  erected  at  the  other  Sta- 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  53 

tions  along  the  line  of  the  Zone.  In  their 
"Coats"  of  slate-color  paint,  and  immacu- 
late-white "Cuttings,"  which  glisten  be- 
neath the  rays  of  the  early  morning  sun, 
these  remnants  of  past  French  days  laugh 
at  Old  Father  Time,  and  cheat  him  out  of 
the  traces  of  the  years  which,  on  his  on- 
ward journey,  his  relentless  hand  had 
stamped  upon  them! 

From  the  standpoint  of  an  American 
Canal,  Bas  Obispo  marks  the  first  page  in 
the  history  of  the  advent  of  the  present  ad- 
ministration on  the  Isthmus;  for  it  was 
here  that  "Camp  Elliott,"  the  Head  Quar- 
ters of  the  American  Marines,  situated  on 
a  high  promontory,  from  which  you  look 
down  upon  a  vast  and  beautiful  country  of 
low-lying  hills  and  far-stretching  valleys, 
clothed  in  perennial  verdure,  was  first 
established  for  the  purpose  of  accommoda- 
ting some  four  hundred  and  fifty  men  that 
had  arrived  in  Colon  by  the  transport 
"Dixie,"  on  that  ever  memorable  night  of 
November  the  5th,  1903.  Here,  the  "Boys" 
m  khaki  pitched  their  tents  and  mounted 


54  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

their  guns  cheerfully,  in  readiness  for  the 
emergency  of  war,  which  was  rumored  all 
around  as  being  imminent  with  the  out- 
witted Colombians,  and  their  vaunted 
allies,  the  San  Bias  Indians,  whose  com- 
bined strength  was  computed  at  something 
like  forty-five  thousand  men  in  all.  But  as 
the  days  wore  on,  and  no  sign  of  the  enemy 
appearing,  there  was  less  occasion  to  be 
wary,  and  so  the  "Boys"  had  lots  of  time  on 
hand,  which  they  dedicated  to  the  innocent 
amusement  of  composing  doggerel-rhymes, 
that  were,  finally,  set  to  music  and  sung  by 
them  in  every  house  they  visited. 

In  chronicling  the  incident  of  the 
"Dixie,"  with  which  a  new  era  for  Panama 
began,  I  recall  to  mind  another,  and  yet 
more  serious,  one  in  connection  with  the 
political  happenings  of  that  troublous  and 
agitated  period,  which  is  bound  to  make  an 
interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
Eepublic  of  Panama. 

I  refer  to  the  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  Colombian  Officers  and  Soldiers,  who 
liad  threatened  the  Town  of  Colon  that  day, 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  55 

November  the  5th,  1903,  against  a  handful 
of  men  from  the  United  States  Gun  Boat 
"Nashville,"  whose  number  was  afterwards 
augmented  by  some  forty  raw  recruits,  col- 
lected here  and  there  in  a  hurry — men  who 
had  never  held  a  gun  in  their  lives  before — 
men  whose  maiden-hands  trembled  ner- 
vously as  they  shouldered  their  first  rifle! 

Happily,  however,  the  necessity  to  open 
up  hostilities  never  arose  that  day,  which 
had  been  to  each  and  all  of  us  one  of  the 
type  of  a  veritable  Waterloo;  excepting,  of 
course,  "The  voluptuous  swell  of  music;" 
"The  dance  and  the  joy  unconfined;"  but 
not  the  "Hurrying  to  and  fro;"  nor  the 
"Mounting  in  hot  haste"  of  the  people  into 
coaches;  for  everywhere  you  turned,  there 
were  men,  women,  and  affrighted  children — 
the  women  half  dressed,  and  their  hair  di- 
sheveled— dashing  madly,  down  the  streets 
in  search  of  places  of  refuge,  which  some 
found  on  board  the  steamers  in  the  harbor 
at  the  time,  while  others,  less  fortunate, 
were  compelled  to  hide  themselves  behind 
large  bales  of  cotton  that  were  piled  up  in 


56  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

the  Freight  house  of  the  Panama  Rail  Road 
Company,  and  which  served  as  a  barricade 
against  a  possible  attack  from  the  enemy 
outside.  But,  despite  of  a}l  these  necessary 
precautions,  not  a  single  shot  was  fired; 
for  eight  thousand  dollars  American  g;old, 
and  enough  champagne  to  drown  the  feel- 
ings of  an  inglorious  defeat,  had  done  the 
deed,  and  carried  away  the  laurels  of  that 
anxious  day,  on  the  night  of  which,  syn- 
chronously with  the  arrival  of  the  "Dixie," 
the  Royal  Mail  steamer  "Orinoco,"  bound 
for  Cartagena  with  the  Army  on  board  that 
had  menaced, Colon,  moved  out  of  her  pier, 
the  while  ten  thousand  sighs  of  relief  went 
up  from  the  hearts  of  those  who  had  begun 
to  return  to  their  respective  homes,  after 
three  days  and  nights  of  discomfort  and 
anxiety;  deprivations  and  sickness;  then — 
Presto ! — The  Republic  of  Panama. 

EMPIRE. 

If  there  is  any  Station  along  the  line  of 
the  Zone,  that  has  caught  the  full  spirit  of 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  57 

Canal  operations;  that  lias  felt  the  thrill  of 
the  gigantic  work  which  is  going  on  all 
around  it,  that  Station  is,  surely,  Empire, 
otherwise  called  "Camacho,"  which  being 
only  one  mile  and  a  half  distant  from  the 
Culebra  Divide,  is  rendered  a  very  impor- 
tant Section  of  the  great  Interoceanic 
Water-way. 

As  the  train  hauls  up  to  the  Passenger 
Depot,  this  fact  is  evidenced  immediately 
by  the  busy  hum  of  things  about  the  place — 
by  the  clink-clank-clink  of  the  chains  of  the 
monster  steam-shovels,  the  echoes  of  count- 
less hammers  resounding  through  the  air, 
the  tooting  of  whistles  in  all  directions,  and 
by  the  distant  boom  of  heavy  charges  of 
dynamite,  all  of  which  are  unmistakable  in- 
dications that  life  is  a  strenuous  one  in  this 
particular  part  of  the  country.  Here, 
there  are  extensive  Warehouses  and  well- 
equipped  Machine- Shops,  in  addition  to 
which  there  is  at  present  in  the  course  of 
construction,  an  Electric  Light  Plant, 
which  is  calculated  to  light  up  Culebra 
Station  as  well. 


58  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

The  old  Native  Empire  Settlement,  sit- 
uated a  little  distance  down  the  tracks, 
looking  towards  the  north,  which  for  four 
decades  had  been  the  stopping-point  of  the 
trains  running  between  both  termini,  is 
relegated  to  the  dead  Past  now,  the  new 
Empire,  having  taken  its  place  as  the 
Freight  and  Passenger  Station  in  that  Dis- 
trict, which  comprises  "Camacho,"  Cunette, 
White  House,  and  the  Native  and  American 
Empires. 

The  American  Empire,  which  is  one  of 
the  largest  towns  along  the  line  of  the  Rail 
Road,  is  a  most  beautiful  spot,  nestling  be- 
tween a  group  of  low-lying  hills,  upon 
whose  gradual-heights  the  residences  of  the 
employes  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commis- 
sion are  situated.  In  addition  to  these, 
there  are  the  Hospital,  Hotel,  Public  Free 
School  and  Commissariat  buildings  which, 
being  of  the  more  pretentious  type  of  struc- 
tures, rise  up  dwarfing  the  smaller  houses 
that  go  to  make  up  a  picturesque  cluster  of 
the  whole  in  spotless  white  and  slate-color 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  59 

paints,  that  now  distinguish  the  properties 
of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Commission. 

As,  a  place  of  residence,  Empire,  even  to 
the  most  fastidious  tastes,  should  leave  noth- 
ing at  all  to  be  desired.  Situated,  as  it.is^ 
upon  a  high  elevation,  and  having  aiv  ample 
supply  of  good  drinking  water  and  com- 
plete modern  sanitary  arrangements,  there 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  as  healthy 
a  spot  as  can  be  fowd  in  any  other  part  of 
Christendom.  And  this  is  so ;, true  of  Em- 
pire that  the  Accounting  and  Disbursing 
Departments  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Com- 
mission, whose  offices  were  formerly  located 
in  Panama,  were  lately  transferred  there,, 
along  with  their  respective  staffs,  number- 
ing about  one  hundred  men,  most  of  them 
being  Americans. 

With  regard  to  domestic  life  for  the  mar- 
ried folks  at  Empire,  this  has  been  rendered 
comparatively  easy  and  inexpensive  since 
the  inauguration  of  the  Refrigerating-Car 
Service,  by  which  system  the  employes  of 
the  Commission  and  the  Panama  Rail  Road 
Company  at  every  Station  along  tjie  line, 


60  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

enjoy  the  incalculable  boon  of  being  furn- 
ished, daily,  with  fresh  meats,  fruits  and 
vegetables  of  all  descriptions,  eggs,  cow's 
milk  and  ice,  all  of  which,  excepting  the  lat- 
ter article,  manufactured  in  Colon,  are 
brought  over  to  the  Isthmus  from  the  best 
markets  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
And  yet,  despite  of  these  immense  advan- 
tages, hitherto  unknown  in  this  part  of  the 
world,  there  are  lots  who  are  not  satisfied, 
and  kick  about  prices  which,  however,  when 
compared  with  those  charged  by  the  local 
merchants  for  inferior  articles  of  consump- 
tion, whose  assortment  is  not,  by  any 
means,  varied,  the  balance  in  the  scale  of 
comparison  will,  invariably,  result  in  favor 
of  the  imported  commodities.  But  then,  I 
suppose  there  must  be  "kickers"  in  every 
sphere  and  clime,  the  Isthmus  not  ex- 
cluded; for  it  boasts  of  many  who  can  well 
be  termed  Born-kickers — free,  easy  and  ex- 
temporaneous Kickers,  who  will  kick,  even 
though  there  is  nothing  absolutely  to  kick 
about,  until  their  last  day  upon  this  side  of 
Eternity. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  61 

CULEBRA. 

Culebra!  Who  has  not  heard  of  Culebra? 
Since  the  month  of  January,  1880,  when  the 
French  began  operations,  Culebra  has  been 
on  the  tongues  of  men,  the  world  over,  as  a 
thing  unachievable — as  an  engineering  im- 
possibility ! 

The  French,  however,  who  had  prepared 
their  plans  well,  and  had  studied  them  out 
carefully,  paid  no  attention,  whatever,  to 
this  expression  of  opinion,  which  they 
knew,  as  an.  absolute  fact,  had  emanated 
from  those  who  were  friends  of  Nicaragua, 
and,  consequently,  sworn  and  open  enemies 
of  the  favored  Panama  route,  but  pro- 
ceeded, at  once,  with  the  tremendous  task  of 
demolishing  the  Culebra  Mountain,  in  the 
performance  of  which  they  proved  to  the 
world,  at  large,  the  feasibility  of  their 
scheme,  and  did  good  work  until  1888, 
when,  as  many  of  us  have  good  reasons  to 
remember,  operations  were,  suddenly,  sus- 
pended. 

Then  came  an  idle  lapse  of  some  fifteen 


62  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

long  years  of  weary,  patient  waiting — fif- 
teen years  of  great  suspense  and  anxiety — 
hoping,  each  day,  that  something  would 
turn  up  to  save  the  increasing  gravity  of  the 
situation  which,  from  a  financial  and  com- 
mercial standpoint,  had  just  begun  to 
threaten  the  whole  Isthmus  with  ruin,  when 
the  Americans  came  to  the  rescue,  and  thus 
averted  the  crisis  that  seemed  inevitable. 

Let  us  admit  that  there  have  been  serious 
engineering  difficulties  to  contend  with  at 
Culebra;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  ad- 
mit, also,  that  there  have  been  men  at  the 
helm  of  affairs,  in  this  district,  endowed 
with  the  necessary  skill  and  ability  to  cope 
with  those  difficulties  which,  to-day,  are, 
happily,  surmounted  through  the  indomita- 
ble will  of  those  who  have  identified  them- 
selves with  the  great  Culebra  problem. 

That  the  judgment,  therefore,  pro- 
nounced by  the  enemies  of  Panama,  with 
regard  to  the  impracticability  of  Culebra, 
was,  altogether,  without  foundation,  the 
work  done  by  the  French,  in  their  day,  and 
the  progress  made  by  the  Americans,  since 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  63 

1903  up  to  the  present  time  of  writing,  in 
themselves,  alone,  are  ample  proof  and  testi- 
mony. 

But  the  simple  telling  of  it,  on  my  part, 
could  never  convey  to  the  mind  of  the  read- 
er, the  full  extent  of  what  has,  really,  been 
accomplished  at  this  important  Section  of 
the  Canal.  The  magnitude  of  it  all  must 
first  be  seen  before  it  can  be  intelligently 
appreciated,  even  by  those  who  saw  Cule- 
bra  in  her  virgin  integrity,  in  her  pristine 
glory,  compared  to  what  she  is,  to-day, — a 
wreck  of  her  former  magnificence! 

The  Americans  have  done  good  work  at 
Culebra;  and  what  of  course,  has  con- 
tributed largely  to  this  has  been  the  use  of 
up-to-date  machinery,  such  as  the  steam- 
shovel,  for  instance,  which  is  the  backbone 
and  sinew  of  the  work  of  building  the  Canal 
across  the  Panama  Isthmus.  Culebra,  be- 
sides being  the  objective  point  to-day,  is  the 
keynote  of  the  whole  gigantic  undertaking, 
and  the  dream  of  Mr.  John  F.  Stevens,  the 
Chief  Engineer,  who  is  interested,  heart 
and  soul,  in  the  final  demolition  of  the  Cule- 


64  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

bra  Mountain  down  to  a  point  below  the 
level  of  the  sea ! 

Culebra,  of  course,  is  the  busiest  Section 
of  all.  In  the  "Cut,"  blasting  goes  on 
almost  continually;  and  some  heavy 
"charges'7  have  been  set  off  lately.  The 
heaviest  of  these  was  the  one  which  con- 
tained six  thousand  pounds  of  dynamite 
and  twenty-five  tons  of  black  powder,  which 
scattered  fifty  thousand  cubic  yards  of  rock 
and  dirt  in  one  great  heap ! 

The  day  I  paid  a  visit  to  this  Section  of 
the  Works,  everything  that  wore  wheels 
appeared  to  me  to  have  been  in  motion,  each 
one  vieing  with  the  other  in  the  race  for  the 
goal  of  the  World's  great  work :  There  were 
"dump-trains"  moving,  one  after  the  other, 
in  rapid  succession,  along  the  banks  of  the 
"Cut";  engines  puffed  away  and  snorted 
busily;  and,  last,  though  not  the  least,  a 
fleet  of  steam-shovels  in  operation,  all  of 
them  telling,  in  their  own  see-saw  vernacu- 
lar, of  the  glorious  thing  they  were  doing 
for  the  benefit  of  the  nations  of  the  World ! 
The  graceful  motion  of  their  sharp-teethed 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  65 

dippers,  as  they  swung,  to  and  fro,  around 
their  tireless  chains,  stopping  mid-way  to 
plunge  deep  down  into  the  bosom  of  Mother 
Earth  for  their  prey  of  rock  and  dirt,  which 
they  picked  up  greedily  and  finally  dis- 
gorged into  old  French  "dumps"  or  W.  W. 
Scraper  Cars,  with  a  loud  burst  of  white- 
sieam-laughter  that  curled  up  into  the  air 
and  resounded  through  the  "Cut"  trium- 
phantly, impressed  me  with  the  idea  that 
these  monster  things,  but  mere  parts  of  ma- 
chinery assembled  together  as  a  unit,  were 
almost  as  sentient  as  human  beings  them- 
selves. 

On  the  occasion  of  President  Roosevelt's 
late  visit  to  the  Isthmus,  and  which,  by  the 
way,  has  immortalized  Panama  and  the 
Panama  Canal,  he  related  to  a  large  and 
representative  audience,  at  a  reception 
given  in  his  honor  at  Cristobal,  on  the  night 
of  November  the  17th,  that,  in  the  course  of 
his  examination  of  the  Works,  he  had 
stopped  at  Culebra,  where  he  had  seen  over 
one  of  the  steam-shovels  in  operation,  a  ban- 
ner which  bore  the  legend: 


66  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

"WE  WILL  HELP  YOU  TO  CUT  IT !" 

Then,  as  his  special  train  moved  further 
on  the  way,  he  said,  a  fellow  hailed  out  to 
him: 

"WE'RE     GOING      TO     PUT     IT 
THROUGH !" 

Both  of  which,  the  President  explained 
to  us,  had  pleased  him  immensely,  because, 
he  remarked,  he  admired  the  spirit  that 
actuated  the  sentiment  of  the  two. 

Culebra  is  the  highest  point,  and  the 
largest  Station,  along  the  line  of  the  Rail 
Road.  The  American  settlement  of  this 
important  district  is  reached  by  a  continu- 
ous winding  pathway,  that  leads  up  to  the 
Administration  and  other  buildings,  situ- 
ated upon  the  summit  of  the  hill,  from 
which  point  you  get  a  most  wonderful  bird's 
eye  view  of  the  surrounding  country  and 
the  "Cut,"  both  of  which  teem  with  the  life 
and  activity  commensurate  with  the  im- 
mensity of  the  Cause. 

Culebra  being  the  headquarters  of  the 
Chief  Engineer,  and  also  his  seat  of  resi- 
dence, is  rendered,  officially  and  socially, 


3  3- 

o  a 

"=2 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  67 

the  most  important  Station  on  the  Zone— 
the  pillar  of  the  one  part  being  well  sup- 
ported by  the  gentleman  of  the  hour;  while 
the  amenities  of  the  other  are  ably  executed 
by  his  amiable  Lady  who,  by  her  charming 
manners,  has  succeeded  in  making  herself 
the  most  popular  figure  among  the  best  so- 
cial circles  on  the  Isthmus. 

At  Culebra,  the  Panama  Bail  Road 
branches  off  to  a  comparatively  new  line, 
called  "The  Deviation,"  built  by  the  French, 
and  inaugurated  on  the  3rd  day  of  March, 
1901,  and  which  opened  up  the  loveliest  bit 
of  country  and  scenery  to  be  found  in  any 
part  of  South  or  Central  America. 

"The  Deviation"  is  five  miles  long;  and 
about  one  mile  and  a  half  from  where  it  be- 
gins, there  is  an  Iron  Bridge,  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  feet  long,  spanning  the  "Rio 
Grande,"  which  was  dammed  into  a  lake  in 
order  to  divert  the  course  of  the  waters  of 
the  rivers  from  the  Canal  Works  at  Cule- 
bra. 

The  lake  is  beautiful !  In  its  silent,  glassy 
depths  are  mirrored,  inverted,  the  stately 


68  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

mountain-peaks,  green  with  the  growth  of 
ages  past;  and  tail  and  graceful-bending 
bamboos  fringe  the  edges  of  its  uncomplain- 
ing waters. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  69 


PART  VI. 

The  present  City  of  Panama,  which  was 
founded  in  the  year  1519,  is  situated  about 
five  miles  and  a  half  west  of  the  original 
city,  known,  to-day,  as  "Old  Panama," 
which  was  captured  by  Buccaneer  Morgan 
and  his  handful  of  daring  adventurers  on 
the  28th  of  January,  1671,  and  immediately 
afterwards  reduced  to  ashes,  because  it  was 
discovered  by  Morgan  that  he  had  been  clev- 
erly outwitted  by  the  Panamanians  who, 
anticipating  the  attack  on  the  city,  had 
placed  on  board  of  a  vessel  lying  in  the  har- 
bor, all  the  gold  and  silver  ornaments  of  the 
convents  and  the  churches,  the  King's  silver 
and  jewels,  as  well  as  all  the  other  valua- 
bles belonging  to  private  individuals.  For, 
at  the  time  written  of,  Old  Panama  was  the 
distributing  centre  of  the  rich  countries  of 
the  South,  such  as  Chili  and  Peru,  for  the 
immense  cargoes  of  treasure,  which  were 


70  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

constantly  arriving  for  the  King  of  Spain, 
who  was  Charles  the  Second,  and  which 
were  transported  on  mule-back  to  Porto 
Bello,  a  small  harbor  on  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board, where  the  Spanish  fleet  awaited  the 
precious  merchandise  for  conveyance  to  its 
final  destination. 

Panama  is  not  a  city  of  any  architectural 
pretensions,  but  it  boasts    of   a    few    fine 
buildings,  which  might,  possibly,  pass  mus- 
ter before  the  scrutiny  of  experienced  eyes 
that  have  seen  better  in  other  countries. 
Foremost  among  these  buildings  are:  the 
Bishop's  Palace,  the  Grand  Central  Hotel, 
and   the   General   Offices   of  the   Isthmian 
Canal  Commission,  to  all  of  which  there 
will  soon  be  added  the  new  Theatre  that  is 
now   in   the   course   of   construction.       In 
addition  to  these,  there  is  the  new  and  mag- 
nificent   I.  C.    C.  "Tivoli    Hotel,"    situated 
upon  a  high  promontory  at  the  entrance  of 
Panama,  and  which  has  the  distinguished 
honor  of  having  accommodated  President 
Eoosevelt  and  his  party  during  their  short 
stay  on  the  Isthmus. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  71 

As  in  all  other  Spanish-American  coun- 
tries, the  majority  of  the  houses  in  Panama 
are  massive  stone  structures  built  in  the 
days  of  Spanish  domination;  but  the  build- 
ings which  are  now  going  up,  betray 
marked  signs  of  the  more  modern  school  of 
architecture. 

The  principal  public  thoroughfares  and 
places  of  interest,  are  two  Parks :  one  in  the 
Plaza  Santana,  and  the  other  in  the  Cathe- 
dral Square.  Then,  there  is  the  Bovedas, 
or  Sea-wall,  a  powerful  fortification  which 
overlooks  the  beautiful  Pacific  Ocean  and 
the  distant  Islands  in  the  harbor.  At  each 
of  these  three  resorts,  the  National  Band, 
consisting  of  some  thirty  pieces,  delights 
the  ears  of  the  lovers  of  music  with  a  con- 
cert weekly. 

Since  the  advent  of  the  Americans  on  the 
Isthmus,  Panama  has  undergone  some  re- 
markable improvements.  The  streets,  that 
were  once  of  cobblestones,  difficult  and  un- 
comfortable to  walk  upon,  are  now,  almost 
all  of  them,  paved  with  bricks  imported 
from  the  United  States  for  the  purpose, 


72  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

The  Aguadores,  that  formerly  went  about 
the  city  on  their  two-wheeled  barrel-carts, 
selling  water  to  the  inhabitants,  by  the 
bucket,  the  only  means  of  supply  in  those 
days,  have  now  been  superseded  by  the  in- 
stallation of  an  up-to-date  system  of  Water- 
Works,  which,  so  far,  has  been  one  of  the 
greatest  boons  conferred  on  the  city,  for  the 
reason  that  it  has  afforded  the  means  of 
proper  sewerage  and  good  sanitary  ar- 
rangements, that  have  contributed  so 
largely  to  improve  the  health  conditions  of 
Panama. 

At  Ancon,  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city, 
and  within  the  boundaries  of  the  Zone, 
the  magnificent  hospitals  of  the  Commis- 
sion are  situated  'midst  the  luxuriant 
growth  of  palms  and  cocoanut-trees,  which 
are  fanned  by  the  soft,  refreshing  breezes  of 
the  Pacific. 

The  population  of  Panama  is  variously 
estimated,  but,  in  the  absence  of  an  official 
census,  I  do  not  think  I  will  be  far  wrong  in 
setting  the  figures  down  to  35,000  souls,  al- 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  73 

most  every  one  speaking  the  English  lan- 
guage fairly. 

The  Panamanians  are  a  kind  and  intelli- 
gent lot  of  people — hospitable  to  strangers 
always;  and  no  one  is  better  able  to  testify 
to  these  facts  than  I  am,  having  resided 
on  the  Isthmus,  and  been  associated  with 
the  sons  of  Panama,  for  a  checkered  period 
that  covers  some  thirty-three  years  and 
over. 

In  Panama,  as  they  are  in  almost  every 
other  small  city  of  the  world,  the  pleasures 
of  social  life  are  somewhat  "slow"  and  lim- 
ited. Occasionally,  however,  there  is  a 
break  in  the  dull  round  and  monotony  of 
things,  either  by  a  dance  at  the  "Interna- 
tional," or  by  some  musical  entertainment 
at  the  "Commercial,"  the  two  most  promi- 
nent clubs  in  the  City.  Then,  on  Sundays, 
or  on  any  other  day  of  leisure  in  the  week, 
there  is  the  pleasure,  for  those  who  are  fond 
of  outdoor  sports,  of  mounting  a  good,  swift 
steed  and  riding  far  out  to  the  sunny  forest, 
and  to  the  beautiful  Savannas  of  Panama. 


74  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


PART  VII. 

About  two  miles  distant  from  Panama,  is 
the  seaport  on  the  American  Zone,  known 
as  La  Boca,  which  is  situated  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  the  Pacific  entrance  of 
the  Canal. 

Besides  being  a  busy  Canal  centre,  La- 
Boca  is  an  important  Shipping-district,  and 
an  enormous  Kail  Road  Yard  and  Termi- 
nus, where  all  freights,  coming  from  and 
destined  to  the  ports  of  the  Pacific,  pass 
through  on  their  way  to  their  final  destina- 
tions. 

La  Boca  is  provided  with  improved  and 
ample  shipping  facilities.  There  are  two 
extensive  piers  there  in  constant  operation ; 
one  built  in  the  days  of  the  French,  and  the 
other  by  the  present  regime  for  the  accom- 
modations of  the  increased  Commercial, 
Rail  Road  and  Canal  traffic  across  the  Pan- 
ama Isthmus. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  75 

Both  piers,  to-day,  are,  more  or  less,  tem- 
porary compromises  for  the  Canal,  on  ac- 
count of  the  advantage  they  offer  to  the 
steamers,  of  loading  and  discharging  their 
cargoes  direct  from,  and  to,  the  cars  of  the 
Panama  Rail  Road  Company,  instead  of 
having  to  do  so  in  the  stream,  by  means  of 
lighters,  as  was  the  custom  formerly,  and 
which  necessitated  extra  shifting  and  hand- 
ling that  incurred  additional  mutilation  of 
cargoes. 

The  first  steamer  to  dock  at  La  Boca,  was 
the  United  States  Ship  "Ranger,"  which 
was  ordered  there  by  the  Administration  at 
Washington,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
soundings  of  the  Basin  and  the  Channel 
leading  up  to  the  pier,  which  was  built  by 
the  French  Company;  with  the  result  that 
the  "Ranger"  was  quickly  followed  by  the 
Pacific  Mail  Steamer  "Costa  Rica,"  which 
inaugurated  the  new  service  that  is  now  in 
full  and  successful  operation  at  La  Boca, 
one  of  the  busiest  harbors  on  the  Pacific 
Coast. 

The  day  I  went  there  on  a  visit,  the  two 


76  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

piers  were  full  of  life  and  activity,  and  ver- 
itable pandemoniums  of  Labor;  for,  in  their 
mad  haste  and  eager  endeavor  for  suprem- 
acy in  the  art  of  truck-wheeling,  good-nat- 
ured truck-men  jostled  against  each  other 
frequently,  while  the  powerful  trolley-trans- 
porters swung  their  heavy  sling-loads 
around  with  a  pendulum-like  regularity, 
and  a  whir! — whir! — whir!  and  then  de- 
posited their  burdens  on  the  piers. 

At  La  Boca  there  are  extensive  Machine- 
shops,  operated  by  the  Commission,  where 
the  repairs  for  all  the  Floating  Canal  Equip- 
ment, such  as  tugs,  clappets  and  dredges,  are 
effected  daily.  In  addition  to  which  there 
are,  of  course,  the  usual  buildings  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  the  employes  of  the  Com- 
mission and  the  Panama  Kail  Road  Com- 
pany.; hospitals  for  the  sick,  and  hotels  and 
mess-rooms  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  inner 
man. 

No  one  should  come  to  the  Isthmus  with- 
out paying  a  visit  to  La  Boca,  the  Gateway 
of  the  Canal  on  the  Pacific,  the  betrothed  of 
the  Atlantic  Ocean. 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  77 


PART  VIII. 

The  work  of  building  the  great  Water-way 
across  the  favored  Panama  route,  has  served 
as  a  most  powerful  magnet  in  the  way  of  at- 
tracting all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people  to 
the  Isthmus  from  almost  every  quarter  of 
the  Globe;  for  a  more  cosmopolitan  collec- 
tion of  the  human  races  than  that  we  have 
among  us  to-day,  does  not,  I  believe,  exist  in 
any  other  part  of  the  universe:  There  are 
Americans,  British,  French,  Germans,  Ital- 
ians, Spaniards,  Greeks,  Colombians,  Dan- 
ish, Peruvians,  Central  Americans,  East  In- 
dians, and,  of  course,  an  abundance  of  the 
ever  ubiquitous  Chinese,  who  have  all 
tended,  largely,  to  change  our  local  color 
and  the  aspect  of  our  surroundings  and  en- 
vironments. Many,  even,  of  our  old  histori- 
cal land-marks  have  disappeared  from  these 
scenes  entirely,  in  order  to  make  room  for 
Canal  operations;  and,  to  judge  from  the 


78  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

present  outlook  of  things,  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  the  few  remaining  ones  shall 
have  completely  vanished  and  have  been  suc- 
ceeded by  the  greatest  Work  that  man  has 
ever  yet  conceived  or  attempted. 

The  labor  chiefly  employed  to  work  on  the 
Canal  is  made  up  of  a  somewhat  motley 
gathering  of  Jamaicans,  Barbadians,  Mar- 
tiniquenians,  St.  Lucians,  Spaniards,  Ital- 
ians and  Cartegenians,  with  a  possibility  of 
an  augmentation  of  these  classes  by  the  in- 
troduction, later  on,  of  the  progressive  Jap- 
anese. Yet,  strange  to  say,  and  also  won- 
derful to  contemplate,  that,  notwithstand- 
ing this  mixed  assembly  of  peoples,  all  work- 
ing side  by  side  together,  in  the  name  of  the 
one  great  Cause,  there  has  been  so  little,  if 
any  at  all,  of  crime  on  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama ;  but  this,  no  doubt,  is  due,  firstly,  to  the 
combined  Police  regulations  of  the  Panama 
and  the  United  States  Governments  in  the 
strict  maintenance  of  peace  and  order,  and, 
secondly,  to  the  law-abiding  natures  of  the 
aliens.  And  yet,  for  my  part,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  such  a  cosmic  gathering;  it  is  dan- 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  79 

gerous,  6ecause  it  sometimes  leads  to  dis- 
turbances between  the  different  races  of 
men,  whose  respective  tastes  and  languages, 
characteristics  and  temperaments,  are  so 
widely  apart  from  each  other.  The  French 
brought  the  Africans  to  the  Isthmus,  and 
they  made  no  end  of  trouble  for  us,  even  to 
the  last  day,  when  eight  hundred  of  them 
marched  in  to  Colon,  from  Culebra,  and, 
with  razors  and  knives,  defied  the,  then,  Co- 
lombian policemen  just  at  the  entrance  of 
Cristobal ! 

The  Spaniards,  it  has  been  said,  are  very 
good  workmen,  and  I  think,  myself,  they  are 
too;  and  the  Japanese  have  been  mentioned 
as  a  probable  solution  of  the  labor  problem ; 
but  it  is  my  forcible  and  candid  opinion, 
based  upon  many  long  years'  experience  in 
this  country,  that  the  Jamaica  Negro  is  the 
fellow  to  dig  the  Canal :  he  is  accustomed  to 
the  climate,  and  can  better  adapt  himself  to 
the  prevailing  conditions  on  the  Isthmus 
than  any  of  the  men  of  the  other  nationali- 
ties I  have  just  mentioned  here. 

And  now  for  a  few  words  more  before 


80  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

closing  this  paper.  I  trust  it  will  not  be 
thought  by  any  of  my  readers,  that  I  have 
posed  in  these  pages  either  as  the  self-consti- 
tuted "Trumpeter"  of  Panama,  or  as  the 
mouth-piece  of  the  Panamanians.  I  have 
simply  wished  to  fulfil  the  duty,  which  I 
have  long  felt  was  mine,  as  an  old  resident 
of  the  Isthmus,  of  endeavoring,  in  my  own 
little  humble  way,  to  convince  the  preju- 
diced minds  that,  after  all,  we  are  not  such  a 
"heap,  bad  lot  from  away  back,"  as  many  of 
our  unfriendly  and  aided  critics,  abroad, 
have  magazined  and  newspapered  us  to  be. 

As  a  lover  of  the  Truth,  I  must  frankly 
admit  that  we  have  not  yet  reached  that 
stage  of  perfection,  which  is  beyond  re- 
proach and  unfavorable  criticism,  towards 
the  happy  goal  to  which  we  are  trending 
daily ;  for  there  are  still  a  few  flaws  that  yet 
need  mending.  On  the  other  hand,  however, 
it  should  also  be  conceded  that  the  Republic 
of  Panama,  as  an  Independent  Nation,  and 
as  the  Ruler  of  her  own  destinies,  is,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  infancy  of  years:  The  rough 
edges  found  here  and  there  in  her  Ashler  to- 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  81 

day,  will  be  worn  away  as  Time  rolls  onward 
to  the  Future! 

As  for  our  Critics,  let  me  say  that,  taking 
them  on  the  whole,  they  have  been  a  most 
wonderfully  gifted  assortment  of  people  in 
their  utter  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  Isth- 
mus, its  past  and  present  conditions,  its 
topography  and  its  environment  of  to-day. 

For  a  stranger  to  sit  in  a  Rail  Road  car, 
whirled  away  at  an  average  speed  of  some- 
thing like  twenty-five  miles  an  hour,  and 
think,  by  just  gazing,  cursorily,  through  the 
window,  that,  he,  or  she,  could  write  a  faith- 
ful report  of  a  country  so  rapidly  traversed, 
is,  to  my  mind,  as  ridiculous  as  it  is  impossi- 
ble !  Yet  much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  Pana- 
manians, and  to  the  disgust  of  the  many 
friends  of  the  Isthmus,  has  this  marvelous 
feat  been  attempted. 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama  is  exactly  what 
we  make  it,  by  our  mode  of  living,  our  con- 
duct, and  our  habits  generally.  If  men  will 
come  here  and  turn  night  into  day,  commit- 
ting indiscretions  in  over-drink  and  all 
other  kinds  of  imprudence,  as  they  have, 


82  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

oftentimes,  done,  the  result,  as  it  would  be 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  must  be  pat- 
ent and  obvious.  Yet  almost  every  case  of 
sickness  and  death  that  has  occurred  here 
from  time  £o  time,  has,  invariably,  been 
chalked  down,  in  great,  big  letters,  against 
the  climate  of  the  Isthmus,  whose  health 
conditions,  notwithstanding,  will  compare 
most  favorably  Avith  those  of  any  other  coun- 
try in  the  Tropics,  and,  perhaps,  with  those 
of  some  places  in  the  North  also — a  state- 
ment that  may  seem  chimerical  to  some,  but 
all  the  same  the  Truth,  for  which  I  have,  as 
testimony,  the  official  figures  of  our  limited 
mortality,  the  percentage  of  which  is  far  be- 
low that  of  any  of  the  larger  cities  in  the 
world. 

Whatever  may  be  said  to  the  contrary,  the 
Isthmus,  within  the  past  two  years  or  more, 
has  made  wonderful  progress  in  the  way  of 
general  improvements. 

Socially,  we  have  had  some  very  valuable 
acquisitions  with  the  constant  influx  of  peo- 
ple from  abroad ;  and  yet,  I  am  compelled  to 
confess,  Society  on  the  Isthmus  is  a  verita- 


NATURE    AND    LIFE.  83 

ble  Study — not  in  "Scarlet,"  but  in  every 
color  of  the  rainbow !  For  the  dominant  feat- 
ure is  that  everybody  wants  to  be  "It,"  and 
no  one  will  consent  to  be  subject — at  least, 
not  those  who  can  boast  of  birth  and  lineage, 
good-breeding  and  education,  but  from 
whom,  ofttimes,  POSITION,  and  not  the 
man  himself,  withholds  the  keys  of  the  Par- 
lors! 

Morally,  the  Americans  have  done  a  great 
deal  towards  improving  the  tone  of  the 
lower  classes,  among  whom  concubinage,  at 
one  time,  \vas  woefully  rampant.  As  a  re- 
sult, however,  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law 
against  this  mode  of  living,  not  less  than 
twenty-five  marriages  occur  daily  on  the 
Zone. 

Finally,  I  wish  to  testify  to  the  truth  of 
all  the  statements  which  I  have  made  here— 
they  are  the  plain  truth;  nothing  but  the 
truth ;  even  if  they  do  "hurt"  those  who  are 
enemies  of  the  Isthmus,  and  who  are  inimi- 
cal to  the  building  of  the  great  Interoceanic 
Water-way  across  the  favored  Panama 
route. 


A  TALL  OF  THE 
OLD  WASHINGTON  HOUSE 


A   Tale  of  the  Old  Washington 
House,  Colon. 

I. 

It  was  in  the  early  Seventies.  The  Wash- 
ington House  that  stood  then,  flanked  on 
both  sides  by  stately  cocoanut-trees,  was 
merely  a  shapeless  pile  of  woodwork  that,  so 
to  speak,  tottered  upon  the  crutches  of  its 
senility!  For,  for  almost  two  decades,  the 
building  had  been  the  sport  and  prey  of 
every  wind  and  weather,  beneath  the  ever 
recurring  stress  of  which,  as  the  years  rolled 
on,  it  gradually  fell  to  decay,  until,  at  last, 
it  listed  towards  the  sea-front  heavily. 

The  windows,  nearly  all  of  them,  were 
blind  for  the  want  of  glasses;  and  the  laths 
of  the  shutters,  moist  with  the  rime  of  the 
salt-sea  air  of  years  and  years  and  years, 
hung  loosely  down,  like  so  many  dilapidated 
wooden  pendants,  with  which  the  breezes 
toyed  and  rioted  madly. 
87 


88         A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD 

The  rooms  were  half  the  size  of  those  of 
its  now  more  pretentious  successor,  and  the 
walls  were  thickly  crusted  with  whitewash 
coatings,  that  constantly  fell  upon  the 
painted  floors  in  large  thick  scales,  white  as 
the  snows  that  drop  from  heaven !  But  good 
old  Tom,  the  Bedroom  Steward,  was  always 
"on  .-deck,"  at  shoulder-arm  with  his  ubiqui- 
tous corn-broom,  ready,  like  little  Orphan 
Annie,  to  sweep  the  fallen  debris  away,  and 
clear  from  every  nook  and  corner  the  fes- 
toon and  embroidery  of  cobwebs  that,  Hy- 
dra-like, sprang  up  constantly,  despite  of 
good  old  Tom,  who  finally  proved  himself  to 
be  no  Hercules  for  them. 

Notwithstanding  the  simplicity  of  the 
building,  right  happy  days  were  those  of  the 
Washington  House  of  old!  There  was,  in 
every  sense  of  the  word,  a  true  and  genuine 
comradery  among  the  boys — the  maddest, 
merriest  lot  one  ever  came  across  in  Chris- 
tendom— up  to  all  kinds  of  tricks,  the  suc- 
cessful perpetration  of  which,  such  was  the 
entente  cord  laic,,  was  never  known  to  evoke 
a  serious  protest  from  the  chap  whose  every 


WASHINGTON    HOUSE.          89 

stick  of  furniture,  bed  and  bedstead  alike, 
had  been  taken  from  his  room  while  he  was 
out  at  night,  and  cast  over  the  balcony  on  to 
the  wet  green  lawn  in  front,  to  remain  there 
till  he  returned  to  lift  them  up  the  steps  him- 
self, and  put  them  back  again  in  their 
places;  nor  yet  from  the  fellow  who,  by 
some  daring  piece  of  mendacity,  had  been 
divested  of  his  property.  No !  In  those  days 
a  practical  joke  met  rather  writh  pleasing 
applause  than  with  any  word  or  act  or  sign 
of  protest;  so  much  so,  that  one  joke  was 
quickly  followed  by  another,  in  which  the 
last  victim  would  endeavor  to  get  even  with 
his  latest  perpetrator.  But  then,  it  was  not 
to  be  wondered  at  that  each  man  accepted 
his  "dose'-  with  such  good  grace  and  humor; 
for  the  boys  of  that  time  were,  so  to  speak,  a 
brotherhood  of  one.  No  tales  were  "carried 
out  of  school"  when  one  had  been  taken 
home  on  the  proverbial  "shutter;"  nor  yet 
when  another  had  been  down  the  night 
before  at  Valdez's  to  spin  the  magic 
wheel,  or,  haply,  to  dance  the  cumbia  with 
Zoila!  All  this  was  kept  as  sacred  as  the 


90         A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD 

secrets  that  characterize  the  great  Masonic 
Fraternity. 

With  the  exception  of  Jimmy  Ward,  Mac- 
kenzie, and  Mike  Devlanete,  P.  M.  S.  S.  Co.'s 
men,  the  rest  of  the  household  was  made  up 
of  Rail  Road  boys,  who  were : 

Slim  Frankinton,  Train  Despatcher,  Fred 
Hudsin,  Commissary,  W.  Winchester,  As- 
sistant Cashier,  A.  Sharpe,  Secretary  to  the 
General  Superintendent,  and  C.  Walker, 
Road  Master.  There  were  also  the  em- 
ployes of  the  lesser  rank,  of  course,  such  as 
Scotty,  Hendersin,  Thatcher,  Guthrie  and 
George  Dranrab,  Check  Clerks  all  of  them. 

Then,  there  was  dear  old  Billy  Thomson, 
who  occupied  a  room  in  the  building.  He 
was  not  connected  with  the  Road  in  the  days 
written  of;  but  he  had  been  once,  in  almost 
every  position — down  from  Trackman  up  to 
the  more  exalted  position  of  General  Super- 
intendent, from  which  he  resigned  to  enter 
the  local  mercantile  arena.  Thomson  was 
the  soul-embodiment  of  a  gentleman! 
Through  his  kind  and  courteous  manners, 
he  had  won  for  himself  a  tender  spot  in  all 


WAtiHIXGTON    HOUSE.  91 

the  hearts  of  the  boys,  who  delighted  to  re 
s^ect  and  honor  him.  There  were  no  "frills'' 
about  Billy  Thomson  at  all ;  he  took  as  much 
pleasure  sitting  down  spinning  yarns  to  the 
boys  as  he  did  conversing  with  the  G.  S.  of 
the  Koad ;  and  he  was  always  to  be  found  at 
the  little  seances  held  from  time  to  time  in 
the  dear  old  Washington  House.  "When 
trouble  was  in  the  wind,"  as  the  saying  goes, 
it  was  from  Billy  Thomson  always  that  the 
boys  would  seek  advice,  and  it  was  his 
"word,"  too,  that  "went"  with  them  always. 
Among  the  Rail  Road  crowd,  Scotty, 
though  somewhat  brusque  in  his  manners, 
was  the  general  favorite;  for,  despite  of  the 
sixty  years  that  had  crowned  his  head  with 
silver,  he  was  the  life  and  soul  and  music  of 
the  building,  even  if  he  did  swear  like  a 
trooper!  Scotty  was  a  Scotchman  every 
inch  of  him  but  one,  and  that  was  in  his — 
liquor;  for,  strange  to  say,  he  was  never 
known  to  touch  the  firewater  of  his  country. 
Brandy,  instead,  was  his  poison,  and  of  this 
he  constantly  kept  a  bottle  behind  an  old 
leathern  trunk  of  his  he  had  brought  from 


92         A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD 

England  with  him,  and  which,  a  wreck  since 
of  its  former  magnificence,  stood  within  a 
quiet  corner  of  his  bedroom,  instead  of  tak- 
ing its  place  in  the  graveyard  of  cast-off  and 
unserviceable  packages !  To  this  trunk,  or, 
rather,  to  the  narrow  little  dusty  corridor, 
that  ran  between  it  and  the  wall,  Scotty  was 
wont  to  pay  frequent  visits  daily — he  and 
himself  alone !  For  as  for  asking  any  of  the 
boys  to  accompany  him  in  a  trago,  that  was 
out  of  the  question  entirely !  In  fact,  he  had 
grown  of  late  so  supremely  watchful  of  his 
liquor,  that  he  never  once  failed,  as  Tom 
declared,  to  mark,  with  his  ever  wary  eyes, 
the  ebb-tide  of  the  bottle  each  time  he  picked 
it  up  to  help  himself,  which  he  invariably 
did  most  liberally.  Finally,  he  became  so  or- 
thodox in  his  principle  of  inviting  no  one 
into  his  room  to  have  a  drink  with  him,  that 
Slim  Frankinton,  in  a  conference  held  one 
night  with  Fred  Hudsin,  decided,  there  and 
then,  to  get  square  with  Scotty  on  the  very 
first  opportunity  that  offered,  and  thus 
teach  him  a  lesson  for  the  future. 


WASHINGTON    HOUSE.          93 


II. 


Time,  that  swings  his  pendulum  inces- 
santly, had  brought  the  New  Year's  Eve 
around,  and  the  Washington  House  was 
decked  out  in  full  regalia  of  Chinese  lan- 
terns and  multicolored  bunting,  in  celebra- 
tion of  the  occasion  that  marks  the  passing 
of  one  year,  and  heralds  the  advent  of 
another ! 

On  the  lawn,  fronting  the  seashore,  there 
was  deep-mouthed  eloquence  of  fire-works, 
and  the  pandemonium  was  simply  deafen- 
ing! The  boys,  it  appears,  had  made  up 
their  minds  to  enjoy  themselves  on  that 
night  above  all  others — which  they  did,  too, 
to  their  very  hearts'  content.  Some  of  them, 
with  crimson-cracker  in  hand,  ensconced 
themselves  behind  the  cocoanut-trees,  and, 
in  a  second,  dashed  out  again  with  their 
lighted  fire-devils,  and  tossed  them  at  each 


94         A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD 

other  in  a  game  of  mimic  warfare.  A  mad, 
glad,  New  Year's  Eve  was  that — full  of 
pleasant  memories ;  but  of  those  who  figured 
in  the  association  of  that  dead  time,  few  are 
left  to  tell  its  until-now-unwritten  story. 

Scotty  was  the  only  one  who  had  not 
joined  the  party  on  the  lawn;  he  had  had  a 
day's  hard  work  of  it  on  the  Dock,  checking 
a  heavy  shipment  of  nails,  which  had  come 
by  the  New  York  steamer,  destined  for  San 
Francisco ;  so  he  sat  upon  the  balcony  alone, 
and  wratched  the  proceedings  below. 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  he  fell 
into  a  deep  slumber;  and,  as  was  his  wont, 
began  rehearsing  in  his  sleep  the  fights  he 
had  had  with  his  call-boy,  and  other  little 
incidents,  too,  in  connection  with  his  day's 
checking— 

"M,  C.  H.  in  a  diamond,  5  kegs,  Sir!"  he 
broke  out  suddenly.  Hang  it !  why  the  devil 
don't  you  sing  out  louder?  Can't  hear  a 
G —  d —  word  you  say ! — hoAv  many  was  it?" 

"Five  kegs,  Sir,  and  tally!"— 

"You're  a  liar !"  roared  Scotty— "Hi, 
there,  Lisha!  hold  on  with  your  truck, 


WASHINGTON    HOUSE.          95 

will  you?  It's  all  right;  you  can  go 
ahead  now :  five  and  tally  it  is." 

Then?  after  a  while,  he  broke  loose  again 
into  a  wild  fit  of  vituperation,  which,  sand- 
papered down,  and  passed  through  the  finest 
crucible,  would  reduce  itself  to  language 
nothing  less  refined  than : 

"Hell !  I  wish  the  man  who  shipped  these 
nails  had  every  one  of  them  stuck  into  his 
blasted  ribs — damn  him !" 

But  here,  his  dream  was  interrupted  by  a 
great  red  flash  and  a  sputter  and  a  boom! 
crack!  bang!  beneath  the  chair  he  sat  in, 
which  started  him  from  his  sleep  with  such 
a  sudden  bound  that  he  was  almost  precipi- 
tated over  the  tottering  balcony ! 

White  with  rage,  he  rose  up  to  his  full 
height,  shook  his  clenched  fists  menacingly 
at  the  crowd  on  the  lawn,  and  yelled  out 
vociferously : 

"I'd  like  to  know  who  the  h —  it  was  that 
did  that !  Show  me  the  fellow  and  I'll  lick 
the  life  out  of  him  right  now !"  With  which 
he  turned  around  quickly  apparently  with 
the  object  of  putting  his  threat  into  execu- 


96  WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

tion,  when,  lo!  Hendersin,  his  dearest  com- 
panion, stood  before  him  just  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  hallway,  immediately  behind 
where  he  had  been  sitting.  As  they  con- 
fronted each  other,  Hendersin  gave  a  broad 
guffaw,  and,  with  some  difficulty,  raised  his 
hand  and  rested  it  on  Scotty's  shoulder,  say- 
ing, somewhat  incoherently: 

"Sh— say,— Sh— Scotty,— old— chap,— hie 
I — did — it, — see  ?  — and — hie — what — about 
it?  — Want— ter— fight?  — sh— better— not, 

•  Sh — Scotty, — i' — sh — New — Year —  hie 
come  —  and —  have — a — drink — with— me ! 
— had — a — beau — sh — f ul — time ! !"  At  all 
of  which,  Scotty  simply  exploded  with 
laughter,  and  asked  facetiously : 

"Say,  Hendersin,  what,  in  the  name  of 
heavens,  have  you  been  eating  that  has  given 
you  such  an  infernal  indigestion?" 

"Eating?"  responded  Hendersin,  grinning 
stupidly,  "hie — foo'ish — question — don't — 
know — hie —  sh  — what — you're — talking — 
about!  Sh — come — along — Sh — Scotty,  old 
chap,  — and — I'll — sh — show — you — what — 
I've — been — eating — hie."  And  he  made  a, 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD          97 

bee-line  for  the  steps,  leading  the  way  down- 
stairs to  the  little  Reading-room,  situated 
at  the  southwest  end  of  the  building. 

As  they  reached  the  entrance,  Hendersin 
stumbled  and  fell  into  a  shapeless  bundle  on 
the  floor,  with  such  a  thud  that  the  glasses 
and  bottles  which  lay  on  the  old  mahogany 
table  clattered  and  came  together  in  an  out- 
burst of  apparent  applause  at  the  tableau- 
Hendersin ! 

For  a  moment  Scotty  was  taken  aback; 
for  he  stood  stockstill  before  the  doorway 
and  gazed  in  perfect  astonishment  at  the 
battery  of  jugs  and  bottles  that  fortified  the 
table,  intended  only  for  the  occupation  of 
peaceful  and  instructive  literature. 

Then,  after  a  while,  he  stepped  into  the 
room  and  lifted  his  friend,  Hendersin  to  a 
chair.  In  the  act  of  doing  this,  the  entire 
party  that  had  been  "going  it"  on  the  lawn, 
tramped  in  noisily — each  man  bearing,  gun- 
wise,  a  palm-branch  over  his  shoulder,  and 
singing  lustily : 

"When  Johnny  comes  marching  home !" 
When  the  song  had  ceased,  all  eyes  were 


98  WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

turned  towards  the  almost  unrecognizable 
figure  crouched  up  in  a  chair  in  one  corner 
of  the  room — wondering  who  the  person 
could  be !  Frankinton,  however,  could  stand 
the  suspense  no  longer;  so,  weighted  down 
with  his  burden  of  curiosity,  he  walked 
across  the  floor  and  laid  his  hand  gently 
upon  the  drooping  figure.  Hendersin  started 
at  once,  and  raised  his  head  slowly ;  then  he 
stretched  himself  out  to  his  full  length  and 
breadth,  and  yawned  aloud!  Finally,  he 
threw  himself  back  into  a  reclining  attitude 
against  the  wall,  grinned  uglily  at  Frankin- 
ton, and  began  to  sing  in  a  hoarse  and 
squeaky  voice : 

"We  won't  go  home  till  morning ! 

"We  won't  go  home  till  morning!" 
when  Frankinton  yelled  out  to  him : 

"For  God's  sake,  Hendersin,  shut  up  your 
darn  racket,  will  you?  Don't  you  know  that 
Mack  and  his  wife  are  asleep  in  the  room 
next  door? — A  fine  looking  specimen  of  .hu- 
manity, you  are,  ain't  you?"  said  Frankin- 
ton, catching  Hendersin  by  the  shoulder, 
and  shaking  him  admonishingly. 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD          99 

"None  —  of  —  your  —  darn  —  business !" 
shouted   Hendersin;   "to — hell — with — you, 

-  Mack  — and  —  his  —  wife  —  and  —  the 
whole     bloomin' — crowd — of — you !"      and 
then  he  started  to  sing  the  old  refrain  again : 
"We  won't  go  home  till  morning! 
"We  won't  go  home  till  morning !" 
which  he  kept  on  repeating  until  he  was 
almost  out  of  breath.     But  he  finally  be- 
came less  strenuous  in  his  language — his  ob- 
ject being,  no  doubt,  to  make  atonement  for 
his  late  vituperative  outburst. 

"Franky — old — boy,"  he  called  out,  some- 
what disconnectedly,  "pass — the — bottle— 
'round  —  to  —  everyone  —  and  —  let's  — 
have —  a  — drink — the — whole — of — us — to- 
gether !  And — say, — you — you — over — there 
— you — shaved — head — beggar !"  he  yelled 
out,  pointing  to  Thatcher,  "give — us — a 
lively — tune — on  —  your — harmonica — will 
you  —  and  —  I'll  —  dance — a — good — old 
clog  —  for  —  the  —  company  —  by  —  way 
of — opening — up — the — ball !" 

The  bottle  was  passed,  accordingly,  and 
all  hands  supplied  their  glasses,  and  tossed 


100         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

their  tragos  down  after  pledging  each  other 
heartily.  Then,  Thatcher  adjusted  his  am- 
ple mouth  to  his  harmonica,  Sharp  tickled 
his  violin  with  bow  and  finger,  while  Hen- 
dersin,  who  had  recovered  somewhat  from 
his  late  attack  of  indigestion,  rose  from  his 
chair  and  stood  up  in  the  centre  of  the  room, 
waiting  for  the  first  outburst  of  the  music, 
with  his  arms  akimbo!  The  instruments 
were,  at  last,  awakened  to  measure:  Sharp 
scraped  his  violin  frantically ;  Thatcher  held 
his  own  on  his  harmonica,  while  the  boys 
beat  a  lively  tattoo  upon  their  knees  by  way 
of  accompaniment.  Then  Hendersin  started 
dancing  wildly;  but  he  had  not  well  begun 
before  every  man  rose  up  and  formed  a  cir- 
cle around  the  table.  When  everybody  had 
fallen  into  line,  Hudsin  stepped  forward 
and  called  out  at  the  top  of  his  voice : 

"Nqw,  boys,  wait  and  take  the  time  from 
me  i  Qne — Two — Three — Musical — Let — 
'ergo !"  and  every  foot  began  to  sway  simul- 
taneously, till  the  flooring  creaked  beneath 
the  burden  of  the  dancers ! 

When  the  revel  had  reached  its  highest, 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        101 

Wincherster  held  his  hands  aloft  and  sang 
out  amidst  the  infernal  uproar : 

"Hoop-la! — Let  'er  rip! — Go  it,  boys! 
Shake  'em  up !  All  hands  'round ! — Balance 
to  your  partners  lively!  Up  and  down  the 
centre ! — Left  wheel ! — keep  it  up,  boys !  Hi ! 
—Hi !— Hi,  there !"  and  a  chorus  of  "Hi's !" 
went  up  from  every  mouth  as  the  dancers' 
feet  came  down  upon  the  floor,  keeping  time 
with  the  rhythm  of  the  music!  Finally, 
the  dancing  ceased,  and  all  hands  fell  into 
their  chairs,  exhausted — panting  and  puff- 
ing heavily.  Then  there  wras  a  brief  pause 
for  breathing,  after  which  Jimmy  Ward 
pulled  his  watch  out  of  his  pocket  and  said : 

"Boys,  it's  just  three  minutes  now  to  the 
hour  of  twelve,  so  let's  fill  our  glasses  once 
more  and  drink  the  New  Year  in!" 

The  motion  being  seconded  by  Mike,  and 
unanimously  carried,  the  bottles  were 
drained  of  their  last  intoxicating  drop  of 
liquor;  then  a  moment's  silence  ensued — a 
silence,  haply,  dedicated  to  thoughts  of 
home  and  to  loved-ones  over  the  boundless 
waters !  Suddenly,  however,  the  clock  upon 


102         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

the  mantel-shelf  began  to  toll  out  mourn- 
fully the  last  hour  of  the  senile  year,  which 
woke  the  boys  from  their  reverie;  and  just 
as  the  stroke  of  twelve  vibrated  in  an  echo, 
every  man  clinked  glasses  and  drank ;  then, 
hand-in-hand,  sang  "Auld  Lang  Syne''  to- 
gether. 

When  this  deathless  song  had  ceased,  it 
was  discovered  that  Scotty  and  Hendersin 
were  missing  from  the  crowd.  2so  search 
was  made  for  them,  however,  because  it  was 
deemed  best  to  leave,  at  least,  Hendersin 
alone  to  get  over  the  effects  of  the  night's 
hard  dissipation.  But  the  rest  of  the  boys 
stayed  on,  bent  each  one,  on  keeping  the  ball 
a-rolling. 

The  first  man  to  reopen  the  proceedings 
was  Slim  Frankinton.  Drawing  his  chair 
close  up  to  the  table,  he  sat  down  and  gazed 
enquiringly  at  the  regiment  of  bottles  lined 
off  before  him.  Then  he  looked  upon  his 
empty  glass  forlornly,  and  picked  the  bottles 
up,  one  by  one,  and  shook  them  vigorously 
to  ascertain  if  there  was  anything  left  in 
them;  finding  nothing,  he  laid  them  back 
again  upon  the  table,  saying : 


A  TALE    OF    THE    OLD          103 

"Boys,  I'm  sorry  to  tell  you  there  isn't  a 
single  drop  of  liquor  left;  but — 'sh — don't 
give  it  away,"  he  commanded,  shrugging  his 
shoulders  and  turning  around  to  see  if  any- 
one outside  was  listening.  "It's  all  right," 
he  resumed  in  a  whisper,  ano  need  to  worry 
about  a  drink,"  he  said,  afor  I've  got  the 
whole  thing  fixed,  and  if  you  chaps  will  only 
hold  your  tongues  for  a  minute,  I'll  tell  you 
all  about  it.  I've  got  a  scheme  on  hand  that 
you  couldn't  beat  to  save  your  lives — Nay — 
Nay — Pauline!"  And  he  turned  around 
again  looking  for  eavesdroppers.  Convinced 
that  all  was  well,  he  took  the  crowd  in  his 
confidence : 

"Boys,"  he  said,  "it's  just  this :  Scotty  has 
a  couple  bottles  of  brandy  hidden  away  be- 
hind that  antediluvian  trunk  of  his;  he  got 
them  to-day  from  Johnny  Ugg ;  so,  if  you'll 
all  stand  by  me,  I  promise  to  get  one  of  them 
before  I'm  two  hours  older — if  I  don't,  then 
my  name  isn't  what  it  is;  furthermore,  if  I 
fail,  I'll  take  you  down  to  the  Howard 
House,  whenever  you're  ready,  and  set  up 
the  drinks  for  the  whole  outfit !" 


104         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

All  hands  having  promised  their  hearty 
co-operation,  Frankinton  disclosed  his  plan 
of  campaign  on  Scotty's  brandy,  after  which 
everybody  proceeded  to  leave  the  room.  But 
George  Dranrab,  fearing  that  Scotty  was 
not  yet  well  asleep,  saw  the  wisdom  of  ad- 
vising a  little  delay  in  the  adventure. 

"Dear  boys,"  he  called  out  in  his  usual  en- 
dearing fashion,  "I  wouldn't  risk  it  now  if  I 
were  you.  Better  wait  a  few  minutes  more ; 
it  will  be  safer  then.  In  the  meanwhile,  to 
pass  the  time  away,  let's  get  Mike  to  give  us 
a  story;  so  sit  down,  the  whole  of  you,  and 
make  yourselves  at  home — where  you  ought 
to  be,"  he  remarked  facetiously. 

"George,  old  man !"  exclaimed  Walker,  "it 
isn't  a  bad  idea  at  all !"  Then  everybody 
called  on  Mike,  who  stepped  forward  de- 
murely, and  stood  up  for  a  while,  fumbling 
with  his  watch-chain — his  eyes  elevated  to 
the  ceiling — waiting  to  catch  the  very  first 
wave  of  inspiration.  Growing  impatient  at 
waiting  so  long  on  Mike,  Walker  called  out 
suddenly : 

"Come  along  now,  Mike;  give  us  some- 


A  TALE    OF    THE    OLD          103 

thing — you  can't  get  out  of  it — no ! — not  on 
your  life !  Tell  us  about  the  night  that  Hud- 
sin  swam  across  the  Lagoon,  with  all  his 
clothing  on,  to  get  away  from  a  policeman 
who  had  been  chasing  him. 

But  Mike  blushed  all  over  and  said,  "I 
really  couldn't  give  you  that  one!"  Then 
Frankinton  got  up  and  suggested : 

"Well,  perhaps,  you'll  tell  us  about  the 
night  that  Walker  stoned  the  Washington 
House,  and  Hudsin  came  out  on  the  balcony 
with  his  gun  and  popped  away  at  him — yes, 
you  remember,  don't  you?  how  Walker, 
after  the  first  shot  had  been  fired,  ran  and 
hid  himself  behind  a  cocoanut-tree,  scream- 
ing out :  'For  God's  sake,  Hudsin,  stop  your 
shooting ! — it's  I,  Walker !'  " 

No !— »-No !: — No !"  interrupted  little 
Wardy,  the  Englishman,  "that  ain't  what 
we  want,  at  all!  Let's  'ave  instead,  the 
bloomin'  one  'bout  you  and  Frankinton — 
don't  you  know?  I  mean  that  shooting  af- 
fair," he  said,  addressing  himself  to  Mike. 

"Yes !— Yes !— Yes !"'  shrieked  the  whole 
crowd  together. 


106         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

"Wardy,  old  chap,  you've  just  struck  it 
right !"  exclaimed  Wincherster — "give  it  to 
us,  Mike,  it's  a  good  one  on  you !" 

"So,  after  exchanging  a  few  consulting 
glances  with  Frankinton,  who  signalled 
over,  "I  don't  mind  if  you  do,"  Mike  scraped 
his  throat  and  began : 

"Well,  boys,  I  remember  the  night  full 
well.  I  had  just  *:ome  in  from  work,  tired 
as  I  could  possibly  be,  and  was  preparing  to 
go  to  bed,  when  Frankinton  called  out  to  me 
from  his  room,  adjoining  mine:  "  'Mike! — • 
Oh,  Mike! — are  you  there,  Mikey?'  as  he 
used  to  call  me  when  he  was  in  a  good 
humor. 

"  'Yes! — Yes! — Frankinton,'  I  replied; 
what,  in  the  name  of  heavens,  is  the  diffi- 
culty now? — Is  George  dead,  at  last?'  I  en- 
quired. 

"  'Dead?*  he  exclaimed  interrogatively, 
and  in  a  tone  of  voice  that  smacked  of  im- 
possibility. 'Not  on  your  life!  Why,  look 
here,  Mike/  he  answered,  'you  couldn't  kill 
him  with  a  crowbar,  if  you  tried  to!' 

"  'No!  it  wasn't  that;  what  I  wanted  to 


A  TALE    OF    THE    OLD          107 

say  to  you,  Mikey,  was  just  this :  it's  the  an- 
niversary of  my  birthday,  and  I'd  like  you  to 
come  over  and  have  a  friendly  drink  with  me 
in  celebration  of  the  occasion.  I've  got  a 
bottle  of  good  old  Jamaica  here  I  bought 
from  Dewsberry  this  afternoon,  that'll  make 
your  hair  curl  and  your  head  swim  all  at 
the  same  time — labeled  Special  Brand ;  and, 
just  fancy,  twenty  years  old,'  he  commented 
invitingly. 

"  'No  thanks,  Frankinton,  it's  too  late 
now,'  I  replied;  'and  what's  more,  I'm  dead 
tired,  and  am  going  to  turn  in  right  away; 
for  I  have  to  be  up  early  in  the  morning,  to 
meet  the  Colon  and  assort  her  papers  in 
time  to  despatch  them  to  Panama  by  the 
first  train  leaving — so,  good  night,  old 
chap,  and  don't  bother  me  any  more !' 

"  'Tired  the  devil!'  he  retorted  angrily, 
'you've  got  to  come  and  have  a  drink  with 
me,  Mike,  or  else  there'll  be  trouble !' 

"But  I  paid  no  attention  to  him  what- 
ever, and  turned  in  to  bed  quickly. 

"I  had  barely  dimpled  the  pillow  with 
my  head,  when  I  heard  the  sound  of  hurry- 


108         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

ing  footsteps  in  the  hallway.  Immediately, 
I  jumped  up  and  fastened  every  door  and 
window,  and  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  room 
awaiting  developments.  I  did  not  have  to 
wait  for  very  long,  though ;  for,  suddenly,  I 
saw,  under  the  crevice  of  the  doorway,  the 
glimmer  of  a  sharp  steel  weapon,  w^hich  the 
moonlight,  streaming  through  the  sashes,  re- 
vealed to  be  the  blade  of  a  machete!  This 
Frankinton  swayed  from  one  side  of  the 
door  to  the  other  in  a  vain  attempt  to  force 
an  opening.  Finding  his  efforts  futile,  he 
called  out  to  me,  despairingly : 

"  'Mike! — Oh,  Mike! — are  you  coming, 
Mikey? — uno  nada  mas!'  he  said,  swinging 
the  machete  lively. 

"Terrified,  and  with  the  view  of  appeas- 
ing Frankinton,  I  made  answer : 

"  'All  right,  Franky,  old  boy,  go  to  your 
room  now,  and  I'll  be  there  in  a  minute!' 
With  which  assurance  he  went  away  quiet- 
ly, leaving  me,  almost  out  of  breath  from 
fright,  standing  up  and  gazing  blankly 
around  the  room,  the  while  I  listened  to  the 


A  TALE    OF    THE    OLD          109 

sound  of  his  receding  footsteps  in  the  hall- 
way. 

"As  soon  as  I  knew  he  had  reached  his 
apartment,  I  got  into  bed  and  cuddled  up 
under  the  counterpane,  hoping  that  Frank- 
inton  had  forgotten  all  about  the  promise  I 
had  made  him;  when  lo!  he  began  with  his 
threat  again : 

"  'Mike!'  he  shouted,  'you'd  better  quit 
your  fooling — see?  and  come  at  once,  for  I 
ain't  waiting  any  longer  on  you — sabe!  In 
fact,  I'm  going  to  give  you  just  three  more 
calls,  Mike,  and  if  you're  not  on  the  way  by 
that  time,  why  then,  you  can  look  out  for 
squalls,  I  tell  you;  for,  by  the  Holy  Moses, 
I'll  shoot  for  sure!'  Then  he  immediately 
started  to  put  his  threat  into  execution. 

"  'Mike,'  he  began,  are  you  coming?— 
uno!' 

"No  answer. 

"  'Mike,'  for  the  second  time,  are  you 
coming? — dos!' 

"Still  no  answer. 

"  'Mike,'  he  continued,  deliberately  and 


110         WASHINGTON    HOUSE, 

slowly,    'for    the    third — and — last — time, 
Mike,  are  you  coming? — tres!' 

"But  never  an  answer  did  he  get  from  me. 
And  so,  exasperated  over  my  unyielding 
silence,  he  called  out  quickly : 

"  'Well,  then,  here  she  goes,  Mike!'  and 
the  last  word  had  scarcely  escaped  utter- 
ance when,  lo!  there  was  a  terrible  report, 
and  a  flash  like  lightning;  then  a  bullet 
hissed  by  me,  just  an  inch  or  so  above  the 
spot  where  I  lay  in  bed  dozing. 

"Quickly,  I  started  as  from  some  horrible 
nightmare,  and  was  on  my  feet  in  a  second 
— scared  to  death,  and  shaking  like  a  jelly- 
fish! In  fact,  it  was  only  long  after  I  had 
recovered  from  the  shock,  that  I  began  to 
realize  just  what  had  happened,  and  the  nar- 
row escape  that  I  had  had.  Frankinton,  too ; 
for  he  called  out  to  me  somewhat  nervously : 

"  'For  God's  sake,  Mike,  are  you  hurt  at 
all,  old  chap? — talk  out,  will  you?  for  the 
thing  has  given  me  the  ague  P 

"Then,  I  thought  I  heard  him  shiver — <br 
— r — r — !'  but  I  gave  him  no  answer,  think- 
ing that  the  addition  of  a  little  suspense  to 


A  TALE    OF    THE    OLD          111 

his  anxiety,  would  serve  him  well  as  a  lesson 
for  the  future.  When  I  felt  that  I  had  kept 
him  waiting  long  enough  for  an  answer,  I 
relented,  and  broke  the  silence. 

"  Tin  all  right,  Franky,'  I  said,  'and  alive 
and  kicking;  but  that  isn't  all  of  it — no! 
not  by  a  jug  full  I  I've  had  a  narrow  escape, 
I  can  tell  you,  and  I  want  to  say  this  much, 
Frankinton,  I'm  pretty  mad  with  you  for 
what  you've  just  done!  I  cannot,  for  the 
life  of  me,  understand  what  got  it  into  your 
head  to  commit  so  rash  an  act.  Anyhow, 
we'll  drop  the  matter  for  the  present,  for 
I'm  tired,  and  am  going  to  bed  at  once;  but 
to-morrow  you'll  hear  further  from  me  on 
the  subject.' 

"This,  no  doubt,  was  taken  by  Frankinton 
in  the  spirit  of  a  threat;  and  I  fancy,  too, 
that  he  must  have  pictured  himself,  valise 
in  hand,  boarding  the  next  outgoing  steamer 
for  New  York — at  least,  I  judged  so  by  the 
tremor  in  his  voice  when  he  answered : 

"  'Mike,  old  chap,  now  look  here;  there's 
no  use  in  your  getting  riled  at  all !  I  really 
didn't  mean  to  do  it — so  help  me  God,  I 


112         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

didn't,  Mike!  And  I'll  take  my  solemn  oath 
to  it,  that  I  never  even  knew  the  gun  was 
loaded,  till  the  darn  thing  went  off  on  me 
suddenly!  Will  you  believe  me,  Mike,  and 
give  me  your  word  that  you'll  say  nothing 
of  this  affair  to  the  Old  Man  to-morrow?' 

"Feeling  convinced  that  he  was  really  in 
earnest,  and  perfectly  innocent  of  any  at- 
tempt on  my  life,  I  made  him  the  promise, 
and  both  of  us  turned  in  to  our  respective 
beds — Frankinton,  haply,  resolving  to  fool 
no  more  with  firearms,  and  I,  well — wonder- 
ing over  the  miraculous  escape  that  I  had 
had." 

It  was  just  1  o'clock  of  New  Year's  morn- 
ing when  Mike  had  finished  his  story,  at  the 
close  of  which  the  Reading-room  re-echoed 
with  a  wild  burst  of  laughter  and  applause, 
that  must  have  awakened  the  entire  neigh- 
borhood !  Then  there  began  the  stamping  of 
feet,  which  was  simply  uproarious;  but 
when  the  din  had  reached  to  a  deafening 
point,  Frankinton,  always  the  man  of  emer- 
gency, rose  to  the  present  occasion,  held  his 
hands  aloft,  and,  waving  them  to  and  fro 


A  TALE    OF    THE    OLD          113 

above  his  sparsely-covered  head,  demanded 
silence  at  the  top  of  his  wee  small  voice— 

"There!  -  -  There!  -  -  There!"  he  said, 
"that's  enough  of  your  racket  now,  boys! 
Quit  your  noise,  I  say,  for  it's  late,  and  the 
whole  neighborhood  will  be  reporting  us  to- 
morrow to  the  Old  Man ;  and  then  some  of 
us  may  get  it  in  the  neck!  Do  you  all  know 
what  time  it  is  now?"  he  asked,  looking 
down  gravely  on  his  watch,  which  he  held 
in  his  hand,  as  he  said  in  answer  to  his  own 
question : 

"Well,  it's  about  time  to  get  a  move  on 
us !  I  am  feeling  pretty  darn  dry,  I  can  tell 
you,  and  I  guess  you  must  all  be  about  in 
the  same  condition  as  I  am ;  so,  come  along 
now,"  he  commanded  impatiently,  as  he 
turned  around  and  motioned  the  crowd  to 
the  doorway;  he  taking  the  lead  outside, 
while  the  rest  of  the  boys  followed  him, 
until  they  were  all  in  Hudsin's  room,  where 
it  had  been  arranged  to  carry  out  the  plan 
of  capturing  the  bottle  of  Scotty's  brandy. 


114         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 


III. 


Hudsin's  room  was  situated  at  the  north- 
east end  of  the  building,  which  fronted  the 
palm-rimmed  seashore.  It  was,  of  course, 
the  best  furnished  apartment  in  the  prem- 
ises because,  well — it  was  the  Commis- 
sary's. 

In  this  room,  that  early  New  Year's 
morning,  sat  Fred  Hudsin,  Jimmy  Ward, 
George  Dranrab,  Slim  Frankinton,  Will 
Wlncherster,  John  Guthrie,  Mike  Dev- 
lante,  A.  Sharp,  Alex  Walker  and  Tom 
Thatcher,  all  of  them  speaking  in  subdued 
voices. 

After  a  short  while,  there  was  suppressed 
laughter  among  the  crowd;  and  every  eye 
was  turned  on  Frankinton  when  he  got  up 
from  his  chair  and  walked  across  the  floor 
to  the  little  marble-top  wash-stand,  that 
stood  in  one  corner  of  the  bedroom.  When 
he  reached  the  wash-stand,  he  rolled  up  his 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        115 

shirt-sleeves,  as  far  back  as  they  could  go, 
and  busied  himself  as  he  said  humorously: 

"Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,  we'll  now  pro- 
ceed with  the  affairs  of  this  Convention;" 
saying  which  he  picked  up  a  piece  of  sweet- 
soap,  placed  it  into  a  basin,  threw  some 
water  over  it,  and  began  stirring  the  soap 
around  until  it  had  dissolved  Itself  into 
thick  white  suds,  that  foamed  and  bubbled. 
During  this  strange  performance,  the  boys 
gazed  curiously  at  Frankinton,  and  a  far- 
away look  illumined  every  man's  eye — a 
look,  well,  in  which,  it  seemed,  there  re- 
flected the  memory  of  long-dead  days,  asso- 
ciated with  white  clay  pipes,  that  spouted 
rainbow-colored  bubbles,  which  went  up  to 
heaven  and  burst  in  the  clear-blue  skies  of 
happy  childhood! 

But  a  sudden  rap  at  the  door,  which 
broke  the  spell  of  this  delightful  reverie, 
sent  the  boys  into  dire  confusion,  while 
Frankinton  quickly  picked  up  the  basin, 
which  contained  the  soap-suds  that  he  had 
just  been  churning,  and,  lying  flat  upon  his 
stomach  on  the  floor,  hid  it  under  the  bed 


116          WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

as  far  back  as  his  slender  hand  could 
reach;  then  everybody  began  to  put  on  a 
borrowed-look  of  angelic  goodness. 

When  everything  was  quiet,  Hudsin  rose 
and  opened  the  door;  when,  to  his  great 
surprise,  dear  old  Billy  Thomson  and  Wil- 
lie Mackenzie  stood  before  him — the  one 
holding  up  the  frame  of  the  doorway  and 
smiling  good-naturedly  upon  the  crowd  in- 
side; the  other  sour  of  countenance  and 
ready  to  explode  with  vituperation! 

Billy  Thomson  was  the  first  to  break 
the  silence: 

"Young  gentlemen — young  gentlemen," 
he  said,  with  much  deliberation,  "don't  you 
think  you've  all  had  enough  of  this  thing 
already  ?" 

"Enough?"  interrupted  Mackenzie,  gruff- 
ly;, "darn  it,  I  should  say  they  have  had! 
Why,  hang  it !  my  wife  and  I  haven't  had  a 
blessed  wink  of  sleep  during  the  livelong 
night,  on  account  of  the  disgraceful  racket 
downstairs.  Have  you  chaps  thought  for  a 
moment  what  the  Old  Man  would  say  if 
this  scandalous  affair  was  ever  brought  to 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        117 

his  notice?  There'd  be  trouble,  I  can  tell 
YOU  !  I  guess,"  he  continued  more  mode- 
rately, "you've  all  forgotten  the  night  that 
he  threatened,  in  the  presence  of  you  all  in 
the  Reading-room  down-stairs,  to  shut  up 
the  Washington  House  if  you  fellows  didn't 
behave  different  to  what  you  were  doing 
then- 

"Mack !"  interrupted  Hudsin,  "for  heav- 
en's sake,  quit  your  lecturing  now,  and 
come  in  just  for  a  minute,  won't  you?— 
you,  too,  Mr.  Thomson;  for  there's  some- 
thing doing :  Frankinton  has  a  small  bet  on 
hand  which  he  wants  to  settle  immediately. 
If  he  loses,  he's  to  blow  us  off  at  the  How- 
ard House  this  evening;  and  just  fancy, 
Old  Pike  is  to  make  the  cocktails  for  us. 
Poor  fellow !  What  a  time  he'll  have 
shaking  'em  up  with  that  queer-shaped 
hand  of  his!  Anyhow,  you  must  come  in 
and  see  the  fun;  we're  going  to  work  a 
little  game  on."  Here  Hudsin  broke  off 
abruptly,  and  stood  up  between  Thomson 
and  Mackenzie,  with  a  hand  laid  upon  each 
one's  shoulder  as  he  whispered  to  both  of 


118         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

them  something  that  brought  a  smile  upon 
their  faces  and  induced  them  to  join  the 
happy  gathering. 

As  soon  as  all  hands  were  settled  in  their 
seats,  Frankinton  resumed  his  soap-suds 
operations,  while  Hudsin  began  undressing 
himself  and  getting  into  his  silk  pajamas. 
His  pajamas  on,  Hudsin  jumped  into  bed 
with  such  a  fierce  bound  that  the  spring 
mattress  vibrated  beneath  him  for  some 
seconds  afterwards;  a  performance  which, 
of  course,  created  no  little  amusement 
among  the  party,  and  sent  the  boys  into  a 
fit  of  laughter. 

"Hi!  there!"  shouted  Frankinton;  "that's 
enough  of  your  stupid  giggling,  now!  If 
you  don't  stop  this  foolish  laughing,  we'll 
be  up  a  gum-tree  just  as  sure  as  you  live!" 
With  this  admonition  he  clenched  his  right 
hand  tightly  and  held  it  high  up  in  the  air, 
with  which, command  he  finally  brought  the 
boys  to  order. 

Silence  reigning  in  the  room,  Frankin- 
ton immediately  proceeded  to  pose  Hudsin 
in  the  bed  for  the  occasion  of  the  onslaught 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        119 

OD  Scotty's  brandy.  The  adjustment  over, 
it  was  the  most  comical  sight  that  one 
could  ever  imagine.  There  was  Hudsin, 
lying  stretched  out  at  full  length  upon  the 
bed,  under  a  snow-white  counterpane,  with 
a  stern,  rigid,  look  upon  his  countenance 
that  betrayed  the  determination,  come 
what  might,  to  intercept  the  smile  that 
dared  to  threaten  the  long-contemplated 
scheme  with  ruin ! 

At  the  side  of  the  bed  stood  George 
Dranrab,  judge-serious,  holding  the  basin 
of  soap-suds,  awaiting  the  time  for  action. 
At  this  particular  juncture,  the  meeting 
rose  to  its  highest  pitch  of  excitement,  and 
speculations  began  to  run  wild  as  to  the 
ultimate  outcome  of  a  crazy  undertaking! 
Frankinton,  however,  stood  to  his  gun  like 
a  man,  and  Hudsin,  too,  to  the  disagreeable 
and  unsavory  part  which  he  was  playing 
in  the  entire  affair. 

When  everything  was  ready,  Frankinton 
gave  his  last  instructions  to  Hudsin,  then 
turned  to  Dranrab  and  said: 

"Remember    now,  Dear    George,"  which 


120         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

was  the  name  that  Dranrab  always  went 
by,  "you  know  exactly  what  to  do!  For 
God's  sake,  don't  make  a  mess  of  the  thing ! 
If  you  do,  well,  my  name  will  be  Dennis, 
whatever  that  may  mean !  Listen  carefully 
now,  and  take  it  all  in:  when  you  hear  us 
coming,  fill  up  Hudsin's  mouth  with  the 
suds,  and  leave  the  balance  to  the  patient.' ' 

Saying  which,  he  took  his  way  out 
quietly,  and  went  in  tliG  direction  of  Scot- 
ty's  room  that  was  situated  on  the  other 
side  of  the  building.  Scotty  was  fast 
asleep  at  the  time;  but  as  the  first  rap 
sounded  on  his  door,  he  jumped  up,  and,  in 
his  usual  rough  style  demanded  at  the  top 
of  his  voice: 

"Who  the  devil  is  there?  and  what  in 
h—  -  do  you  want  of  me  at  this  early  hour 
of  the  morning?" 

"Hush — hush — hush,  Scotty;  for  the 
Lord's  sake,  hush;  don't  make  such  a  fear- 
ful noise,  old  chap — the  shock  might  kill 
him! — it's  I,  Frankinton.'' 

"Well,  what  is  the  matter  now?"  thun- 
dered Scotty.  "I  really  don't  understand 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        121 

you!— 'The  shock  might  kill  him?'  Why 
don't  you  talk  out  plainly? — kill  whom?— 
By  God,  I  begin  to  think  you've  got  'em  bad 
this  time,  Frankinton  !  Go  on  with  you,  and 
get  to  bed  now! — A  nice  shine  that  you've 
all  kicked  up  downstairs — isn't  it?  Glad  I 
wasn't  in  the  crowd !'' 

"That's  all  right,  Scotty;  it  doesn't  cut 
any  figure  at  all  whether  you  were  there  or 
not;  I  came  here  only  to — to — to — tell — 
you—"  said  Frankinton,  smothering  a  great 
lump  of  laughter  with  the  tail-end  of  his 
pa  jama  jacket— 

"Darn  it !"  interrupted  Scotty,  "why  don't 
you  spit  it  out  quickly? — to  tell  me  what?" 
"To  tell  you,  Scotty,  that  Hudsin  has  just 
been  taken  in  pretty  sick,  and  to  ask  if  you 
wouldn't  come  over  and  see  if  you  can  do 
anything  for  him.  The  poor  fellow  is 
threatened  with  a  fit,  it  seems;  for  his  eyes 
are  wild,  and  his  face  is  as  red  as  it  can  be !" 
"You  don't  say!''  exclaimed  Scotty,  ex- 
citedly opening  the  door  and  admitting 
Frankinton. 

"That's  just  what  I  do,  Scotty;  so  hurry 


122          WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

up  and  come;  for  there  isn't  a  moment  to 
lose!" 

After  a  very  trifling  delay,  hunting  for 
his  slippers,  which  he  finally  found  under 
the  furthermost  part  of  the  bed,  where 
we're  sure  to  find  our  slippers  always,  Scot- 
ty  rushed  out  of  his  room,  Frankinton  fol- 
lowing him  closely. 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        123 


IV. 


The  first  thing  that  attracted  Scotty's  at- 
tention as  he  entered  Hudsin's  room,  was 
the  figure  that  lay  stretched  out  on  the  bed 
supinely.  For  a  moment,  Scotty  stood  up 
silent  and  aghast ;  then,  with  a  look  of  earn- 
est solicitude,  that  multiplied  the  wrinkles 
on  his  lineaments,  he  bent  down  enquir- 
ingly over  Hudsin,  when  his  eyes  met  the 
wild  and  glassy  stare  of  the  patient's. 

Observing,  at  once,  that  Hudsin  was 
foaming  at  his  mouth,  copiously,  Scotty 
became  alarmed,  and  turned  around  and 
exclaimed : 

"Gracious  goodness,  boys!  the  fellow  is  in 
a  fit — sure !  Look  at  him ! — his  eyes  are  al- 
most bursting  from  their  sockets;  and  see! 
— he's  got  another  attack  again! — Kun  for 
the  doctor ! — somebody ! — anybody !"  he 
yelled  excitedly;  and  then  he  began  to  navi- 
gate the  full  length  and  breadth  of  the  bed- 


124          WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

room — confused  and  lost  as  to  what  to  do 
for  the  patient  in  the  meantime!  Regain- 
ing his  equilibrium,  he  resumed  calmly : 

"For  God's  sake,  Frankinton,  have  you 
nothing  at  all  in  the  house  to  give  the  poor 
chap  to  drink?  If  you  have,  why — d —  it! 
trot  it  out  quickly,  and  don't  leave  the  man 
suffering  here  like  this  for  the  want  of 
something  to  revive  him !" 

This  little  speech  from  Scotty  had  wound 
the  crowd  up  almost  to  a  bursting  tension; 
but  Slim  Frankinton,  good  general  as  he 
was  always,  stepped  forward  and  answered 
promptly : 

"Scotty,  old  chap,  I'm  sorry  to  tell  you 
there  isn't  a  drop  of  anything  around  here; 
but  say/'  he  added  naively,  "perhaps  you 
have,  and  wouldn't  mind  coming  to  the  res- 
cue like  a  good  fellow." 

Here,  Frankinton  had  driven  the  wedge 
right  home — scoring  one  on  Scotty;  for.  the 
appeal  had  come  just  when  a  man's  exist- 
ence, as  Scotty  believed  at  the  time,  hung  in 
the  balance  of  his  decision,  on  which  all 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD         125 

hands    waited    with    keen    and    breathless 
anxiety ! 

But,  in  the  crucial  moment,  the  better 
part  of  Scotty  soon  prevailed,  as  it  will  al- 
ways with  men  of  his  stamp  and  calibre! 
For  he  immediately  raised  his  head,  that 
had  been  bent  down  in  deep  deliberation, 
mopped  the  glistening  beads  of  perspira- 
tion off  his  forehead,  then,  after  gazing 
thoughtfully  around,  dashed  out  of  the 
room  a  la  spread-eagle,  and  dashed  back 
again — out  of  breath,  and  bearing  under  his 
left  arm  a  bottle  of  brandy,  from  which  the 
cork  had  not  yet  been  extracted. 

Thrusting  the  bottle  into  Frankinton's 
hand,  he  exclaimed,  somewhat  excitedly : 

"Here  you  are,  Franky,  old  boy;  open  it 
quickly  and  give  him  a  good,  stiff  slug  while 
I  run  and  call  the  doctor!" 

And  off  he  went  like  a  shot,  for  Hitchcock$ 
who  lived  in  one  of  the  small  bungalows 
that  stood  then  where  the  more  imposing 
residence  of  the  General  Superintendent  is 
now  standing. 

When  the  last  sound  of  his  footsteps  had 


126         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

died  into  the  distance,  there  was  a  great 
laugh  on  Scotty,  during  which  Hudsin  got 
up,  closed  the  door  securely,  rinsed  his 
mouth  out,  and  afterwards  began  to  re- 
habilitate himself. 

Flushed  with  triumph,  Frankinton 
turned  to  Hudsin,  who  had  won  his  laurels, 
too,  in  the  heroic  part  he  had  played  in  the 
whole  affair,  and  commanded  him  to  open 
the  bottle  and  pass  the  contents  'round  to 
everybody.  Then,  when  all  the  glasses  were 
charged,  Hudsin  lifted  his,  and,  with  an  air 
of  self-satisfaction  lighting  up  his  counte- 
nance, his  lips  curled  into  a  pleasant  smile, 
said: 

"Well,  boys,  I  guess  it's  about  time  now 
we  did  have  something  to  brace  us  up  a  bit ! 
—here's  to  Scotty !" 

Then  every  man  tossed  his  trago  do-vn, 
while  "Scotty !"  -  -  "Scotty !"  —  "Scotty !" 
rent  the  quiet  of  the  New  Year  morning  and 
died  away  into  an  echo. 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        127 


V. 


Scotty  was  not  aware  of  the  fact,  how- 
ever, that  Frankinton  had  called  on 
Hitchock  the  day  before,  and,  confiding  to 
him  the  secret  of  his  contemplated  intrigue, 
had  solicited  his  medical  co-operation — 
whereupon  the  good-natured  doctor  had  dis- 
missed him,  saying : 

"It's  all  right,  Franky;  go  ahead  and 
count  on  me  whenever  you're  ready;  and 
you  can  just  bet  your  sweet  life  that  I'll  be 
there  on  time  to  put  the  finishing  touches  to 
the  job.  Darn  my  soul  if  I  don't  think  it'll 
be  a  pretty  good  lesson  for  Scotty  in  the 
future!" 

Ignorant  of  all  this,  Scotty  went  his  way 
that  early  New  Year  morning  in  search  of 
the  doctor,  whom  he  did  not  find  at  his 
bungalow,  however.  He  had  been  called 
out,  as  the  negro  inside  informed  him,  to 
attend  to  Mrs.  Smith,  the  dear  old  soul  of 


128          WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

Howard  House  notoriety,  who  had  been 
taken  suddenly  ill  with  a  severe  attack  of 
inflammatory  rheumatism.  Scotty  was, 
therefore,  compelled  to  walk  all  the  way 
down  town  to  hunt  up  Hitchock,  upon 
whose  head,  every  step  and  turn  he  made,  he 
poured  forth  his  wrath  through  an  almost 
exhaustless  vocabulary  of  "cuss-words," 
from  which  the  pen  would  blush  to  quote  in 
these  pages ! 

This,  Mike  learnt,  sometime  afterwards, 
from  black  old  Sophie  Taylor,  Purveyor,  in 
those  days,  to  the  P.  M.  S.  S.  steamers, 
whom  he  met  one  morning  carrying  under 
her  arm  a  large  basket  of  provisions  which 
she  said  "Missa  Badgly  de  'teward,  "had 
'axed  her  fe  fetch  fe  him." 

Laying  her  burden  down  upon  the  side- 
walk, in  front  of  Butler's  Barber-Shop, 
where  one  heard  the  gossip  of  the  day  from 
the  tonsorial  artist,  she  told  the  story  in  her 
own  peculiar  vernacular: 

"Lawd,  me  Gawd,  sir!"  she  exclaimed, 
putting  up  her  hand  to  her  mouth  with  an 
air  of  extreme  indignation,  "tell  me,  me 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        129 

good  Massa,  de  what  been  matter  wid  Missa 
Scotty  de  oder  morning — eh?  Well,  sir,  I 
always  know  dat  de  gentleman  could  ?a'  cuss 
fe  true ;  but,  me  mudder  me  dead !  I  neber 
hear  him  swear  as  him  did  de  oder  morning 
I  meet  him  up  coming'  down  Front  'treet, 
bruck-neck  fashion,  looking  for  de  doctar! 
Me  backra  pickney !  dat  was  what  you  call 
cuss-cuss  wid  a  vengeance!  I  neber  hear 
anything  like  it  in  all  me  born-days  life — no, 
sir!  Cho!  me  face  would  fall  flat  to  de 
groun'  if  I  eber  was  to  'tan'  up  so  tell  you 
all  de  bad  wuds  him  cuss  dat  morning !— be- 
lieve me,  Missa  Devlante,  I  really  t'ink  de 
sound  o'  dem  would  'top  up  you'  two  ears- 
hole  worse  dan  when  wax  get  into  dem !" 

But  Mike  needed  no  telling;  he,  and,  for 
the  matter  of  that,  the  rest  of  the  boys  knew 
full  well  that  when  it  came  to  "cussing' '- 
real,  hard,  straight-forward,  unvarnished 
ungilded  "cussing'' — Scotty  took  the  palm 
and — kept  it  always. 

After  this  unavoidable  digression,  we'll 
take  the  reader  back    to    Hudsin's    room. 


130         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

where  the  revel  had  subsided  into  that  calm 
which  generally  follows  a  storm. 

Here  we  find  Frankinton  looking  seri- 
ous, and  asking  in  a  nervous  sort  of  voice : 

"But,  say,  boys,  what,  in  the  name  of 
heavens,  are  we  going  to  say  to  Scotty  about 
this  thing  when  he  returns? — he'll  surely 
want  to  know  what  has  become  of  the  bal- 
ance of  his  brandy;  and,  certainly,  we'll 
have  to  tell  him  something — anything,  un- 
til he  finds  out  for  himself  the  real  truth  of 
the  story.  So,  come  now,  get  your  heads 
together  and  try  your  best  to  work  out  some 
good,  plausible  yarn  before  he  pounces  in 
upon  us,  which  he  is  liable  to  do  at  any  min- 
ute now " 

"The  devil!"  shouted  Hudsin,  stepping 
forward  and  looking  defiant,  "what  in  the 
world  are  you  all  beginning  to  lose  your 
nerves  about? — give  me  the  empty  bottle," 
he  demanded,  taking  the  same  from  Frank- 
inton and  hiding  it  under  one  of  the  pillows 
on  the  bed,  saying :  "The  doctor  and  I  will 
attend  to  that  part  of  the  business  when  the 
proper  time  arrives, 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        131 

Here,  the  sound  of  approaching  footsteps 
on  the  staircase  interrupted  the  speaker 
suddenly,  and  a  general  stampede  ensued: 
With  all  his  clothing  on,  Hudsin  sprang  in- 
to bed,  drew  the  counterpane  quickly  over 
him  as  far  up  to  his  neck  as  it  could  go, 
turned  his  face  towards  the  wall,  and 
"made  believe"  that  he  was  sleeping. 

When  everything  and  everybody  had  set- 
tled down  quietly,  Frankinton  lowered  the 
light  a  bit,  then  opened  the  door  and  ad- 
mitted Scotty,  who  was  accompanied  by  the 
doctor. 

"Well!"  growled  Hitchock  before  he  had 
even  entered  the  room,  "what's  the  trouble 
now? — calling  a  man  so  early  in  the  morn- 
ing !  Darn  it !  if  you  chaps  would  only  quit 
taking  that  vile  stuff  you  drink  any 
and  everywhere  you  go  down  town,  you 
wouldn't  get  the  jim-jams  as  often,  I'll  bet 
you!" 

"How  is  Hudsin?"  he  asked  abruptly. 

"Sleeping  quietly,"  responded  Frankin- 
ton. 

"Any  more  fits?" 


132          WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

"No !"  was  the  laconic  reply  from  Frank- 
inton. 

"That's  good!"  said  Hitchock,  as  he 
walked  in  and  took  a  seat  alongside  of  the 
bed  on  which  Hudsin  was  lying;  shortly 
after  doing  which  he  tested  the  pseudo-pa- 
tient's pulse,  looking  down  upon  his  wratch 
gravely. 

During  this  serio-comic  performance, 
however,  Hudsin  remained  perfectly  imper- 
turbable, and  the  boys  held  their  breath  for 
all  they  were  worth,  fearing  the  result  of  an 
outburst  of  pent-up  laughter!  Finally, 
Hitchock  broke  the  terrible  silence  of  the 
moment 

"He's  resting  calmly  now,  and  his  pulse 
is  fairly  regular,"  he  said  without  a  single 
twitch  of  his  countenance;  then  he  resumed 
shortly : 

"He'll  bo  all  right  again  as  soon  as  he 
wakes  up." 

"But,  say,  Doc',  what  do  you  think  gave 
him  those  awful  fits?"  enquired  Scotty  ner- 
vously. 

"What  do  I  think  gave  him  tljose  awful 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        133 

fits?"  repeated  the  doctor  satirically;  "well, 
now,  look  here,  Scotty,  if  you'd  only  put  the 
thing  the  other  way  'round,  old  chap,  pre- 
fixing your  question  with  'Who'  instead  of 
'What/  I  should  answer,  without  the  .slight- 
est hesitation  that — you  are  responsible  for 
them  all !"  at  which  mysterious  response 
Scotty  was  startled,  and  he  fell  back  a  step 
or  two — his  face  as  livid  as  a  ghost's ! 

"I?''  was  his  laconic  rejoinder.  "I'm 
afraid,  Doc',  I  do  not  catch  on  to  you 
exactly!  what  the  devil  could  7  have  to  do 
with  Iludsin's  fits,  will  you  tell  me?" 

"Lots !"  exclaimed  the  doctor,  shoving  his 
hand  under  a  pillow  and  withdrawing  it 
again  quickly — saying  as  he  did  so : 

"And  here's  a  proof  of  it ! — do  you  recog- 
nize this?"  asked  Hitchock,  holding  up  an 
empty  bottle  to  Scotty,  and  tapping  upon  it 
with  the  ringed  third  finger  of  his  right 
hand;  "this,"  he  said,  "contained  the  stuff 
that  has  been  the  sole  cause  of  Hudsin's 
trouble!"  But  Scotty  did  not  understand, 
nor  yet  did  he  try  to ;  for  the  moment,  he  re- 
saembered  qn]j  his,  precious  brandy,  against 


134         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

the  loss  of  which  he  protested  good-humor- 
edly. 

"Recognize,"  he  answered,  "a  darn  look- 
ing wreck  of  a  thing  like  that,  without  a 
drop  of  liquor  left  into  it? — recognize  hell! 
— no,  sir,  not  by  a  d —  sight !" 

"Hush  your  racket  there,  will  you,  Scot- 
ty?" interposed  Frankinton  calmly.  "Hang 
it,"  he  continued,  "ain't  you  got  any  better 
sense  than  that — making  such  a  noise  when 
the  doctor  has  just  given  a  hypodermic  of 
morphine  to  Hudsin,  who  must  be  kept  per- 
fectly quiet?" 

With  which  reproof  Scotty  was  silenced 
immediately !  For,  strange  to  say,  from  the 
very  beginning  of  the  farce  to  the  present 
stage  of  the  performance,  the  possibility  of 
dissemblance  had  never  once  occurred  to 
Scotty.  Bather  to  the  contrary:  every- 
thing appeared  too  natural,  as  he  thought, 
for  him  to  have  looked  upon  the  whole 
affair  in  the  light  of  a  huge  practical  joke 
only.  There  was  the  doctor's  visit,  for  in- 
stance, and  then  the  hypodermic  of  mor- 
phine, both  of  which,  after  revolving  them 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        135 

carefully  over  in  his  mind,  he  accepted  as 
ample  evidence  that  there  was  no  deception 
underlying  the  Hudsin-case  at  all;  and  so, 
as  a  natural  consequence,  suspicion  lay  dor- 
mant within  him. 

What,  of  course  puzzled  Scotty  im- 
mensely was  Hitchcock's  charge  against 
him ;  and  he  wondered  upon  what  ground  the 
doctor  could  have  made  the  imputation. 
Could  there  have  been  anything,  he  imag- 
ined, in  the  quality  of  the  liquor — which,  by 
the  way,  he  had  since  discovered  was  none 
of  the  best — that  had  brought  about  such 
serious  results  to  Hudsin?  But  then,  he 
dismissed  the  thought  immediately,  seeing 
that  the  effect  had  not  been  general.  Never- 
theless, bewildered  over  the  matter,  he 
stood  up  silent  for  a  moment,  gazing  upon 
the  floor,  and  looking  thoughtful. 

By  this  time,  however,  Hudsin  had 
reached  the  limit  of  his  endurance,  and 
could  stand  the  strain  no  longer;  so,  taking 
advantage  of  Scotty's  preoccupation,  he 
turned,  almost  imperceptibly,  over  in  the 
bed  and  nudged  the  doctor  with  his  elbow. 


136          WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

Hitchock  took  the  hint  at  once,  and  made  a 
sign  to  Frank i nton ;  soon  after  which  the 
lamp,  that  had  been  burning  dimly  on  the 
table,  went  out  out  suddenly  and  left  all 
hands  in  total  darkness! 

When  the  lamp  had  again  been  lighted, 
there  appeared  a  perfect  revelation  before 
Scotty!  There  was  Hudsin,  sitting  up  at 
the  edge  of  the  bed,  his  feet  upon  the  floor, 
his  elbows  resting  on  his  knees,  his  hands 
supporting  his  forehead.  After  a  while,  he 
raised  his  head  up  slowly,  made  grimaces 
at  the  crowd,  and  burst  out  laughing — 
belching  forth  a  whole  mouthful  of  soap- 
suds and  besmearing  everybody!  Then  it 
was  that  the  whole  thing  dawned,  at  last,  on 
Scotty,  who,  accepting  the  joke  with  a  sense 
of  good  humor,  joined  in  the  laughter,  that 
soon  became  general,  and  shortly  after 
turned  to  Hitchock  and  exclaimed: 

" Je-rusalem !" — with  an  accent  on  the 
first  syllable — "is  that  the  man  who  had  a 
fit  a  moment  ago,  Doc'?  If  it  is,  well,  darn 
my  soul,  he  did  the  thing  to  the  letter !  And 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD        137 

as  for  you  and  Frankinton,  Doc',  well ! 
well!  well!  le'  me  tell  you  this  right  here 
now;  you're  the  bossest  pair  of  liars  I  ever 
have  come  across !  But  it's  all  right,  boys," 
he  said,  turning  around  and  addressing 
himself  to  the  crowd,  "I  own  up  to  it, 
frankly,  that  you've  caught  me  this  time; 
but  say — don't  make  any  mistake  about  it 
— not  as  badly  as  you  all  might  think  you 
have!  Where's  the  empty  bottle?  Give  it 
to  me,"  he  demanded  abruptly,  taking  it 
from  Frankinton  and  examining  the  label. 
The  scrutiny  over,  he  laid  the  bottle  down 
upon  the  table,  stroked  his  hair,  and  ex- 
claimed suggestively: 

"For  heaven's  sake ! — do  you  chaps  know 
what  you've  all  been  drinking? — Guess!" 
In  answer  to  which  every  man  raised  his 
left  hand  to  his  mouth,  held  his  stomach  up 
with  the  right  one,  and  shouted  all  to- 
gether : 

"What?" 

"Hold  on  now,  boys;  you  needn't  get  so 
excited  over  nothing;  just  keep  cool  for  a 
minute,  and  I'll  tell  you  'What,' "  re- 


138         WASHINGTON    HOUSE. 

sponded  Scotty.  "I've  made  a  mistake,"  he 
said. 

"Made  a  mistake?"  interrupted  the 
crowd,  alarmingly. 

"Yes! — you  see  it  was  just  like  this;  there 
were  two  bottles  behind  my  trunk  at  the 
time;  but  in  the  hurry  of  the  moment  I,  un- 
fortunately, picked  up  the  wrong  one  and 
handed  it  to  Frankinton.  That  one,  I  re- 
gret to  tell  you,  contained  German  rot-gut 
imitation  brandy  I  had  purchased  to  give 
the  butcher  of  the  Crescent  City,  in  return 
for  a  keg  of  'blue  points'  he  had  brought  for 
me  from  New  York ;  the  other  bottle,  which 
I  bought  for  my  own  personal  delectation, 
is  behind  my  trunk  now."  With  which 
announcement  the  boys  were  simply 
astounded;  but  Frankinton,  who  had  deter- 
mined within  himself,  come  what  may,  not 
to  be  outwitted  by  Scotty,  turned  quickly 
around  and  winked  at  Hudsin  one  of  those 
deep-meaning  winks  of  his  in  which  there 
was  the  reflection  of  further  plot  and  con- 
spiracy! Hudsin,  who  was  standing  at  the 
doorway  at  the  moment,  interpreting  the 


A    TALE    OF    THE    OLD         139 

signal  immediately,  left  the  crowd  unno- 
ticed and  went  into  Scotty's  room  on  tip- 
toe, and  took  the  other  bottle .  of  brandy 
away  and  hid  it  in  his  own  apartment. 

When  Scotty  returned  to  his  room  again 
he  discovered  that  the  other  bottle  had  van- 
ished also;  but  never  a  word,  afterwards, 
did  he  say  to  the  boys  in  connection  with 
the  incident,  in  which  his  bluff  about  the 
Crescent  City  bottle  had  not  wrorked  out  at 
all,  and  in  which  he  had  been  completely 
vanquished. 


AN  UNHEEDED  WARNING 


An  Unheeded  Warning. 

(A  Story  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama) 
(Period,  1904) 

The  news  had  spread  like  wild-fire:  Mor- 
gan had  been,  at  last,  defeated — Nicaragua 
was  nowhere  her  vaunted  route  had  sunk 
forever  into  the  wild  womb  of  uncreated 
undertakings!  Panama  was  on  top;  for  the 
Hay-Bunauvarilla  Treaty,  the  outcome  of  a 
well  planned  and  heroically  executed  Seces- 
sion, had  passed  the  United  States  Senate 
by  a  vote  of  Sixty-six  to  Fourteen !  Panama- 
nians were  jubilant  over  the  consummation 
of  their  long-cherished  dream;  and  Colon 
and  Panama  had  given  themselves  up  to 
Chinese  fire-crackers,  music  and  bunting,  in 
celebration  of  the  dawn  of  a  new  Isthmian 
era.  Colombia  was  crestfallen  at  the  loss 
of  the  gem  of  her  possessions! 
143 


144  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

New  York  was  all  excitement  too.  On 
the  L's  and  on  the  trolley-cars,  Panama  was 
rampant;  for  people,  young  and  old,  dis- 
cussed the  news  over  their  morning  papers, 
in  which  some  readers  had  become  so  en- 
grossed that  they  were  carried  blocks  away 
from  the  stations  at  which  they  had  in- 
tended to  get  off. 

Wall  Street  was  rife  with  speculations 
anent  the  ten  million  dollars  which  the 
United  States  Government  had  agreed  to 
pay  the  Republic  of  Panama  for  the  right  to 
construct  a  Canal  through  its  territory; 
and  to  some  brokers  the  occasion  seemed, 
no  doubt,  a  possible  opportunity  for  a 
'spec'. 

The  New  York  newsboys  were  simply  in- 
tolerable with  their  unearthly  shrieks  that 
rent  the  air : 

"Herald!  --  Sun!  —  Journal!  --  World! 
—Times ! 

"Latest  news — Der  Panama  Canal  is  sold ! 
Uncle  Sam's  got  it,  dead  sure,  this  time- 
buy  a  paper,  sir?"  And  they'd  thrust  a 
paper  in  your  face  just  when  you  were  hur- 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    145 

rying  to  catch  an  L-express  or  a  crowded 
surface  trolley-car. 

"Sixty-Six  to  Fourteen  had  become 
world-wide  ubiquitous.  In  New  York  City 
the  news  was  known  in  every  quarter — even 
along  the  docks;  for  in  a  ferry  station,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  West  27th  Street  two 
men  sat  down  discussing  Panama  over  the 
morning  paper.  The  two  were  James  Low- 
ley  and  Dick  Scanton;  the  latter  having 
been  down  to  Pier  57,  North  River,  to  meet 
the  steamer  which  had  just  arrived  from 
Colon,  to  get  some  news  of  the  Isthmus. 

To  Panama,  Lowley  was  a  stranger;  to 
Scanton  not;  for  he  had  been  there  in  the 
palmy  days  of  '81-87;  but  left  after  the 
crash  of  '88  which  ruined  so  many!  Scan- 
ton,  however,  had  been  one  of  Fortune's 
favorites,  for  he  had  taken  away  with  him 
sufficient  money  to  last  a  thrifty  disposi- 
tion, such  as  his,  for  the  balance  of  his  life. 
Now,  it  was  just  sixteen  years  since  he  had 
retired  from  the  Isthmus;  yet  many  and 
many  was  the  day  he  had  felt  the  potent 
charm  of  the  Chagres  water,  and,  so,  longed 


146  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

to  return  to  the  old  haunts  again — to  the 
land  of  palms  and  ravishing  sunsets!  Ow- 
ing to  increased  years  and  to  the  impaired 
condition  of  his  health,  the  longing  never 
materialized;  but,  let  it  be  said,  and  to  his 
credit,  that  his  interest  in  the  Isthmus  en- 
dured all  through  the  entire  period  of  his 
absence.  He,  therefore,  naturally,  felt  a 
deep  thrill  of  gratification  rise  up  in  his 
heart  when  the  glad  tidings  reached  him 
that  dear  old  Panama  had  triumphed  at 
last. 

Lowley  was  still  occupied  reading  his  pa- 
per when  a  tall,  slim,  handsome  young  fel- 
low stepped  up  and  interrupted  him — 

"Hello  there !"  he  called  out  in  a  voice 
that  smacked  of  long  acquaintanceship, 
"What's  that  you're  reading  about  that,  ap- 
parently, interests  you  chaps  so  much?"  he 
asked,  eagerly;  and  "The  Panama  Canal," 
was  Lowley's  quick  response. 

"Tell  me  all  about  it !"  exclaimed  Charlie 
Willinger,  the  new-comer,  "for  I  might  take 
it  in  my  head  to  go  to  the  Isthmus  and  try 
my  luck  there.  Things  here,"  he  continued, 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    147 

"have  gone  mighty  hard  with  me  lately : 
I've  been  out  of  a  job  for  months  now,  and 
the  little  money  which  I  had  put  aside  for 
the  'rainy  day1  in  the  proverb,  is  almost  fin- 
ished— in  fact  I  don't  know  what  I  shall  do 
if  something  does  not  turn  up  in  a  hurry." 
In  answer  to  which  Lowley  thrust  into  Wil- 
linger's  hand  the  morning  paper  he  had 
been  reading,  saying: 

"There  you  are,  Charlie,  read  it  for  your- 
self; which  he  did  too  and  to  his  heart's 
content ;  for  when  he  gave  the  paper  back  to 
Lowley,  you  could  have  seen  a  gleam  of 
hopeful  light  shining  in  his  eyes,  and  a 
smile  all  over  his  countenance  as  he  re- 
marked : 

"Well,  Jim,  here's  a  chance  for  us  at  last ! 
Don't  lose  the  opportunity;  let's  make  up 
our  minds  to  go  to  the  Isthmus;  we're  both 
doing  nothing  at  present,  and  you  really 
don't  know  what  might  be  our  luck  that 
side.  And,  say,  I  tell  you  what;  I'll  make 
this  deal  with  you,  old  fellow :  the  one  that 
gets  a  job  first  will  look  out  for  the  other 
until  he  is  fixed  also.  Come  now,  what  do 


148  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

you  think  of  the  scheme?  Is  it  a  go  or  not? 
— come,  now,  answer  quickly !" 

Here,  Dick  Scanton,  who  had,  so  far, 
proved  himself  to  be  a  pretty  good  listener, 
had  evidently  decided  that  the  time  had 
now  come  for  him  to  cease  playing  audi- 
ence, and  to  put  in  a  word  or  two ;  for,  all  of 
a  sudden,  he  threw  himself  back  into  his 
chair,  crossed  his  legs  serenely,  stuck  his 
thumbs  through  the  armholes  of  his  waist- 
coat, and  thus  unburdened  himself: 

"Tut — tut — tut,  man!"  he  exclaimed, 
with  a  note  of  deep  astonishment  in  his 
voice,  "Go  to  the  Isthmus  now,"  he  said, 
"when  nothing  at  all  is  doing? — the  Treaty 
only  ratified  a  few  hours  ago! — madness, 
boys !  simply  madness  on  the  part  of  both  of 
you  to  entertain  such  a  thought  just  at  this 
particular  moment — I  guess  you  must  be 
off  your  cabcz!  both  of  you!  I  should  think 
the  most  sensible  way  to  go  about  this 
thing  at  all,  would  be  to  wait  till  Uncle 
Sam  commences  digging  in  real,  true  earn- 
est; but  to  go  now,  to  my  mind,  is  almost 
out  of  the  question.  See  here,  Charlie,  my 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    149 

boy,  I  have  been  to  the  Isthmus,  and  I  know 
just  what  I'm  talking  about — was  there  in 
the  early  rush  of  French  Canal  days,  when 
people  flocked  to  Colon  to  look  for  employ- 
ment, and  were  compelled,  soon  after,  to 
return  to  their  respective  homes,  because 
they  saw,  at  once,  that  they  had  come  too 
soon." 

After  this  somewhat  lengthy  sermon,  in 
every  word  of  which  there  was  truth  and 
wisdom,  Scanton  rose  fiom  his  seat,  looked 
at  both  men  with  that  serious  air  which 
generally  characterizes  the  man  who  gives 
advice  to  others,  and  then  resumed  to  the 
finish : 

"Now,  boys/'  he  said,  "I've  got  to  leave 
you ;  don't,  for  heaven's  sake,  make  any  mis- 
take about  this  thing  at  all.  Think  it  over 
well  before  acting  definitely.  In  the  mean- 
time, however,  should  you  need  any  further 
advice  from  me,  come  to  my  room,  both  of 
you,  whenever  you  think  it  necessary" ;  say- 
ing which,  Scanton  left  his  two  friends 
alone  to  wind  up  the  Panama  discussion, 
which  was  resumed  with  increased  vigor 


150  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

and  interest.  The  first  one  to  reopen  the 
conversation  was  James  Lowley: 

"Charlie,'7  he  said,  timorously,  "it's  all 
very  well  and  good  for  you  to  talk  about 
going  to  the  Isthmus ;  but,  tell  me,  will  you, 
where's  the  money  to  come  from  to  pay  our 
way  to  Colon?  It  costs  just  thirty  dollars 
to  get  there — steerage  accommodations  at 
that;  and  while  it's  very  true  that  I  could 
get  the  'dough'  from  Scanton,  I  must  con- 
fess that  I  would  not  like  to  ask  any  favors 
of- » 

"Neither  would  I !"  interrupted  Wil- 
linger ;  "but,  say,  what's  the  matter  with  us 
working  our  way  down?  The  voyage,  as 
you  know,  is  only  seven  days  run,  and  I 
certainly  see  no  reason  why  we  could  not 
rough  it  for  that  short  while ;  so,  come  on, 
now;  talk  quickly  and  let  me  know  what 
you  decide,  for  this  is  Saturday,  and  the 
boat  sails  for  Colon  on  Tuesday  afternoon, 
which  gives  us,  as  you  see  plainly,  very  lit- 
tle time  for  thinking.  If  you  agree  to  it, 
we'll  go  to  the  steamer  on  Monday  morning 
and  state  our  case  to  the  captain" ;  to  which, 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    151 

however,  Lowley  remained  perfectly  silent 
for  a  moment:  Willinger,  he  thought,  was 
too  importunate ;  and  in  fact,  the  whole 
proposition  was  all  too  sudden  for  him. 

And  so,  stroking  his  hair,  Lowley  posed 
in  an  attitude  of  deep  contemplation ;  and  if 
one  could  only  have  read  his  thoughts  then, 
they  would,  possibly,  have  found  them  asso- 
ciated with  the  picture  of  a  seasick  amateur 
sailor,  or,  haply,  with  that  of  an  awkward 
waiter  staggering  around  a  ship's  table!  In 
this  frame  of  mind,  he  finally  made  answer : 

"Charlie,  before  I  give  you  a  definite  re- 
ply, let's  call  on  Scan  ton — to-morrow,  say 
— and  get  his  promised  and  last  advice  on 
this  momentous  affair";  and  the  suggestion 
being  agreed  upon,  Willinger  and  Lowley 
walked  out  of  the  ferry-station  together — 
the  one  with  new  hopes  burning  within 
him ;  the  other,  sceptical  of  the  future. 


152  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


II. 


Charles  Willinger,  who  was  born  in  New 
York,  was  a  young  man  about  twenty-nine 
years  old;  lean  and  lanky  and  delicately 
built,  with  deep-set  pale  blue  eyes,  within 
whose  dreamy  depths  you  could  have  seen 
the  light  of  true,  stern,  honest  manliness. 
Firm  of  character,  and  possessing  a  power- 
ful will  of  his  own,  whenever  Willinger  took 
a  notion  into  his  head,  that  was  the  end  of 
it :  there  was  no  changing  his  mind  at  all 
and  so,  with  him,  the  Panama  trip  was  a  set 
tied  question  altogether. 

James  Lowley  was  thirty-six  years  of  age 
heavily  set  and  short  in  stature,  with  dark 
brown  eyes  and  a  fair  complexion.  Physi 
cally,  he  was  the  stronger  man  of  the  two, 
but,  by  far,  the  lesser  in  grit  and  character. 
Educated  liberally  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  cities  in  which  they  were  born,  Wil- 
linger and  Lowley  had  gathered  enough 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    153 

good  sense  to  enable  them  to  earn  a  decent 
livelihood  for  themselves  wherever  they 
went;  but  through  gambling  on  the  part  of 
one  and  drink  on  the  other,  hard  luck  had 
followed  them  both  lately;  and  now  that 
reformation  had  come  to  them  at  last,  Wil- 
linger,  like  the  drowning  man  in  the  old 
proverb,  looked  on  Panama  as  the  "straw" 
to  catch  at. 

Lowley  was  a  Western  man;  but  he  had 
lived  in  New  York  City  for  the  past  ten 
years,  for  five  of  which  he  and  Willinger 
had  been  inseparable  comrades.  During 
the  other  five  years  Willinger  resided  in  Ne- 
braska, where  he  met  an  only  sister  of  Low- 
ley's — a  tall,  handsome  girl  of  sixteen  sum- 
mers— and  fell  in  love  with  her;  but  after 
a  very  short  engagement,  Mabel,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  unknown  to  all  but  herself, 
gave  him  the  cut,  which  broke  his  heart 
until,  in  the  utter  despair  of  the  moment,  he 
"chucked  his  job"  and  took  the  first  train 
out  for  New  York  City.  Yet,  with  it  all,  he 
bore  up  patiently,  and  kept  the  secret  of  his 
love  so  well  locked  up  within  him,  that  not 


154  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

even  his  best  friend  had  ever  been  taken 
into  his  confidence.  The  object  of  his  love 
and  he  alone,  were  the  only  ones  that  knew 
about  it  all;  well,  and  perhaps,  too,  the  lit- 
tle golden  charm  that  hung  around  his  neck, 
secreted  under  his  singlet, — the  locket,  and 
the  picture  inside,  which  Mabel  had  given 
to  him  before  their  lovebonds  had  been, 
severed. 


Ay    UNHEEDED    WARyiyG.    155 


III. 

It  was  Sunday  morning.  In  a  modestly 
furnished  room  in  a  small  apartment  house, 
situated  in  the  Bronx,  New  York  City,  Dick 
Scanton,  alone  and  pensive,  sat  looking 
over  some  "curios"  which  he  had  brought 
with  him  from  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  long 
years  ago.  The  collection  was  a  weird  and 
unique  one,  consisting  of  stuffed  birds  of 
rich,  rare  plumage,  stuffed  iguanas,  ancient 
rosaries,  carved  and  painted  tutumas,  prim- 
itive jewelry  made  by  the  San  Bias  Indians, 
pottery  of  every  description,  a  varied  as- 
sortment of  sea-shells,  many-shaped  and 
tinted,  and,  last  of  all,  a  bottle  containing 
some  pure  white  liquid  stuff  that  might 
have  been  water. 

Picking  up  this  bottle,  which,  it  appears, 
had  engaged  the  greater  part  of  his  atten- 
tion, Scanton  gazed  at  it  with  a  deep,  cun- 
ning look  from  the  corner  of  his  left  eye, 
and  thus  soliloquized : 


156  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

"Well,  yes,  I've  changed  my  mind  alto- 
gether. I'll  advise  them  to  go :  nothing  like 
seeing  for  oneself.  Lowley,  it  is  true,  did 
not  seem  inclined  to  take  the  trip  when  we 
talked  the  matter  over  yesterday ;  but  if  the 
beggar  shows  any  signs  of  fear  when  we 
again  resume  the  subject,  why,  then,"  he 
said,  "you,"  addressing  himself  to  the  bot- 
tle, which  he  still  held  in  his  hand,  "will 
likely  settle  the  question  without  any 
further  argument."  With  this,  he  returned 
the  bottle  on  the  table,  and  as  he  did  so,  an 
impatient  rap  was  sounded  upon  the  door. 

The  first  idea  that  struck  him  when  he 
heard  the  alarm  was,  that  he  had  been  over- 
heard; and  he,  therefore,  hesitated  for  a 
moment  before  he  would  respond  to  the 
summons;  but  he  finally  opened  the  door, 
and  as  he  did  so  Charles  Willinger  stood 
before  him. 

"Good  morning,  Scanton,"  he  said;  "how 
are  you?  I've  come,  according  to  arrange- 
ment, to  hear  your  final  views  about  this 
Panama  trip  of  ours;  but  I  might  just  as 
well  tell  you  from  now,  that  no  matter  what 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    157 

may  be  your  opinion  on  the  subject,  /  have 
fully  made  up  my  mind  to  go.  Your  advice, 
therefore,  can  only  affect  Lowley,  who,  by 
the  way,  is  still  against  the  movement;  but, 
as  I  have  stated  before,  that  will  cut  no  fig- 
ure with  me  at  all ;"  saying  which,  Willinger 
turned  around  and  drew  a  chair  close  up  to 
the  table,  on  which  the  strange  "curios" 
were  lined  off  in  exhibition-array. 

He  had  no  sooner  sat  down  than  he  began 
to  examine  everything  carefully — asking  a 
thousand  questions  about  each  article  in  its 
turn;  but  when  he  came  to  the  bottle,  his 
curiosity  reached  the  climax!  Picking  it 
up,  he  looked  at  it  with  the  gravest  scru- 
tiny, turned  it  upside  down  several  times, 
shook  it  vigorously,  then  asked,  with  the 
most  solemn  unction: 

"For  heaven's  sake,  Scanton,  tell  me, 
what,  in  the  world,  does  this  here  bottle  con- 
tain?" But  before  the  question  was  an- 
swered another  knock  was  heard  at  the 
door,  through  which,  on  being  opened,  Low- 
ley  dashed  into  the  room,  panting — almost 
out  of  breath. 


158  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Willinger  saw  at  once  that  something  un- 
expected had  happened,  and  so  he  exclaimed 
outright : 

"Holy  Gee,  Lowley! — what,  in  the  devil, 
is  the  matter  with  you  now?  Why,  bless 
my  soul,  you're  as  pale  as  a  ghost !  Has  any- 
thing gone  wrong  since  I  saw  you  last?  Or 
perhaps  your  present  excitement  is  due 
mainly  to  your  having  come  in  suddenly  for 
a  legacy,  and  are  here  now,"  he  added  jocu- 
larly, "to  tell  us  of  your  good  fortune";  in 
reply  to  which  Lowley  pulled  a  newspaper 
from  his  pocket,  and,  pointing  to  an  article 
headed,  in  great  big  type,  WARNING,  said 
nervously :  "There  you  are,  my  good  fellow 
— read  that!".  And  this  is  what  the  paper 
said: 


"People  here  and  abroad  are  hereby  warned  against 
going  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  seek  positions  at 
this  particular  juncture;  for  work  in  real  true  earnest 
has  not  yet  begun  on  the  Canal ;  preliminary  surveys, 
sanitation  and  organization  are  the  principal  features  of 
work  engaging  attention  to-day.  It  might  also  be  stated 
that  labor  is  plentiful,  with  little  or  no  demand.  In 
the  higher  grades  of  employment,  nothing  is  offering; 
trade  is  dull,  and  the  Merchants  are  crying  out  bitterly; 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    159 

the  time,  therefore,  has  not  yet  come  to  go  to  the 
Isthmus,  and  we  advise  people  to  stay  where  they  are 
until  conditions  are  settled,  due  and  timely  notice  of 
which  will  be  given  to  our  readers. 

All  of  this  Willinger  read  without  a  ruffle 
on  his  countenance;  then  he  quickly  turned 
to  Lowley  and  remarked  reprovingly: 

"Jim,  old  chap,  it  takes  mighty  little  to 
scare  you,  I  see ;  why,  you're  shaking  like  a 
jelly-fish!  Got  the  Chagres  fever  already? 
You  certainly  don't  mean  to  tell  me  that 
you  take  any  stock  in  that  blood  and  thun- 
der newspaper  talk,  do  you?  Nonsense, 
man!  I'm  really  surprised  at  you!  Any- 
how, your  not  going  will  cut  no  figure  with 
me,  I  can  tell  you;  for  sure  as  you  stand 
there,  /  have  made  up  my  mind  to  go,  come 
what  may!" 

For  a  moment  Lowley  was  full  of  dumb 
astonishment  at  what  he  considered  to  be 
the  rash  determination  of  Willinger,  for 
whom  he  felt  such  keen  anxiety  that  cold 
beads  of  perspiration  rolled  down  his  fore- 
head— bead  after  bead;  but,  finally,  he 
braced  himself  up  and  said  with  a  nervoua 
tremor  in  his  voice: 


160  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

"Charlie,  I'm  not  exactly  afraid  to  go ;  but 
that  article  which  you've  just  read  gives 
good  reason  enough  why  we  should  not 
start  for  the  Isthmus  now.  It  would  be  all 
very  well  and  good,"  he  continued,  by  way 
of  emphasizing  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
"were  we  both  sure  of  striking  something  as 
soon  as  we  got  there ;  but  you  see  there  is  no 
certainty  about  that,  and  there's  just  where 
the  entire  difficulty  lies !  Nineteen  hundred 
and  seventy  miles  is  a  long  way  to  go,  my 
good  fellow,  in  search  of  work  and  then  find 
nothing  but  disappointment.  No,  sir !  New 
York  City  is  a  good  enough  place  for  me 
just  at  this  present  moment;  I'm  in  no 
hurry;  the  Isthmus  can  wait  a  bit  yet  for 
me,  Charlie;  so  count  me  out  of  your  mad 
scheme,  for  I  cannot  call  it  anything  else. 
Why,  hang  it,"  continued  Lowley,  who  by 
this  had  been  wound  up  to  a  pitch  of  ner- 
vous excitement  on  the  subject,  "don't  you 
remember  what  Scanton  told  us  the  other 
day  about  Monkey  IIU1,  and  how  they  used 
to  dump  the  dead  there  when  there  was  no 
money  to  pay  for  a  decent  Christian  burial? 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    161 

Gee!"  he  exclaimed  with  a  shudder,  and  a 
cold  feeling  running  all  down  his  back,  "I 
fancy  I  see  that  horrible  black  coffin  noAv 
before  me  with  its  incongruous  inscription 
on  top,  'Pobre  Solcmnidad." 

Here,  Scanton,  who  had  been  listening 
patiently,  unable  to  restrain  himself  any 
longer,  went  off  into  a  loud  peal  of  laughter 
that  shook  his  very  frame.  Then,  by  way  of 
prefacing  what  he  had  resolved  in  his  mind 
to  say,  he  stretched  himself  out  to  his  full 
length,  drew  his  waistcoat  down,  peered 
into  the  troubled  depths  of  Lowley's  eyes, 
and,  gazing  upon  the  bottle  that  lay  upon 
the  table  among  the  "curios,"  said  in  a 
serious  tone  of  voice : 

"Jim,  old  boy,  don't  worry  about  that 
coffin  story  any  longer;  those  will  be  things 
of  the  past,  you  bet,  as  soon  as  Uncle  Sam 
gets  a-hold  of  things  on  the  Isthmus;  but, 
say,  that  isn't  your  real  trouble ;  what's  the 
matter  with  you  is  this:  you  need  a  tonic 
badly";  and  with  this  Scanton  walked 
across  the  floor  to  a  little  cupboard  that 
stood  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  and  took 


162  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

from  it  a  small  flask  of  good  old  rye,  which 
he  held  up  to  his  company  saying: 

"Now,  boys,  come  along;  draw  your 
chairs  closer  to  the  table  and  have  one  with 
me!  nothing  like  a  good,  stiff  drop,  I  te*ll 
you,  when  a  man  is  not  feeling  just  up  to 
the  mark" ;  and  as  he  said  so,  he  passed  the 
flask  around  until  the  three  glasses  glowed 
with  the  liquor.  Lowley,  who,  it  seems,  had 
taken  least  of  any,  called  for  water  imme- 
diately. 

"Can't  take  straight  booze  any  more,"  he 
protested;  so  Scanton  quickly  picked  up 
from  the  table,  the  bottle  he  had  brought 
with  him  from  the  Isthmus,  tapped  upon  it 
approvingly;  and,  holding  it  over  Lowley's 
glass  said: 

"Here  you  are,  old  chap,  the  best  water 
you  ever  drunk  in  your  life!  Talk  about 
your  Croton?  Why,  Jim,  it  isn't  a  patch  to 
this,"  he  said,  his  hand  clutching  the  neck 
of  the  bottle.  Now  sing  out  Svhen'  ".  But 
the  'When'  came  after  the  liquor  in  Low- 
ley's  glass  had  been  drowned  beneath  an 
over-supply  of  water,  Finally,  $11  hands 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    163 

clinked     glasses     together,    and     Scanton 
toasted  his  friends : 

"Here's  looking  at  you,  boys,  and  good 
luck  to  both  of  you!"  whereupon  the  three 
men  tossed  their  tragos  down  and  resumed 
their  seats  at  the  table. 

Settling  himself  again  comfortably  in  his 
chair,  Willinger  pulled  from  his  pocket  a 
great,  big  "whackin"  cheroot,  which,  after 
many  attempts,  he  finally  succeeded  in 
lighting,  at  the  cost,  though,  of  a  veritable 
carnage  of  lucifers!  The  "weed"  lit,  Wil- 
linger soon  began  to  puff  away  for  all  he 
was  worth,  and  puffed  and  puffed  and 
puffed  until  at  one  time  it  seemed  as  if  he'd 
need  a  plaster  of  monster  draught  at  the 
back  of  his  neck  to  help  him  do  the  "draw- 
ing." It  was  a  tough  old  proposition  of  a 
cheroot,  that,  but  the  man  behind  the  smoke 
proved  himself,  at  last,  equal  to  the  diffi- 
cult undertaking.  Willinger  smoked  com- 
placently on,  and  listened  to  the  interesting 
tales  that  Scanton  told  of  the  Isthmus; 
while  Lowley  sat  quietly  watching  the  col- 
umns of  curling  smoke  that  rose  from  Wil- 


164  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

linger's  cheroot  up  to  the  low-bent  ceiling, 
till  all  of  a  sudden  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and 
broke  out  excitedly : 

"Charlie,  give  me  a  pencil  and  some  pa- 
per quickly — quick  now,  before  I  forget  it 
all!" 

His  strange  request  complied  with,  Low- 
ley  laid  the  paper  down  on  the  table,  ran  the 
pencil  deftly  over  it,  till  from  the  magic  of 
his  hand  there  grew  upon  the  paper  charac- 
ters that  were  not  altogether  unfamiliar  to 
Scanton,  who  wondered  under  what  strange 
influence  could  the  pictures  have  been  so 
correctly  conceived  and  printed;  but  when 
he  remembered  the  bottle,  the  whole  thing 
dawned  upon  him,  and  so  he  bothered  his 
head  no  longer.  Suddenly,  his  tracing 
done,  Lowley  raised  his  head  and  brought 
his  hand  down  with  such  a  thud  upon  the 
table  that  the  glasses  on  it  rattled,  and  the 
flask  lost  its  equilibrium  and  no  small  por- 
tion of  its  liquor !  Then  Lowley  proceeded, 
at  once,  to  explain  the  meaning  of  his  ap- 
parent delight,  which  had  cost  him  so  much 
embarrassment. 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    165 

"See  here,  Charlie,"  he  said,  pointing  to 
the  figures  on  the  paper,  "this  is  what.  I've 
just  seen  in  the  wraiths  of  smoke  from  out 
that  so-called  cigar  of  yours — look  at  it, 
will  you?  Thousands  of  men  at  \vork  dig- 
ging the  Canal ;  the  great  Culebra  Cut  teem- 
ing with  life  again;  excavators  and  engines 
snorting  and  puffing  and  whistling  in  ap- 
parent delight  over  their  resuscitation;  the 
busy  streets  of  Colon;  the  stores  there 
crowded  with  customers."  Then  Lowley, 
who,  it  was  evident,  had  been  vanquished 
completely,  ceased  his  graphic  description, 
drewr  in  a  long  breath,  and  extended  his 
hand  across  the  table,  saying: 

"Put  it  there,  Charlie !  Hit  or  miss,  I'm 
with  you  this  time :  I've  made  up  my  mind 
to  go  and  cast  my  lot  with  you ;  so  let's  call 
on  the  Skipper  early  in  the  morning  and  see 
if  it  cannot  be  arranged  for  us  to  work  our 
way  to  the  Isthmus." 

By  this,  Scanton  could  stand  the  sus- 
pense no  longer :  he  had  been  amused  listen- 
ing all  the  while  to  the  little  laughable  pro- 
ceedings which  had  gone  on  between  his 


166  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

two  visitors,  and  now  he  felt  it  was  his  turn 
to  speak.  So,  with  a  smile  of  triumph  that 
lighted  up  his  whole  countenance,  he  rose 
from  his  seat,  and  said  with  much  delibera- 
tion: 

"Lowley,  I  knew  that  bottle,  or  what  was 
in  it,  would  have  fixed  you  all  right — have 
never  known  the  stuff  to  fail  yet — it's  sim- 
ply wonderful !  I  didn't  want  you  boys  to 
go  at  the  beginning;  but  I've  thought  the 
matter  over,  and  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  it  will  do  you  no  harm  to  get  a 
little  knowledge  of  that  new  and  interesting 
Republic,  where  you'll  have  to  drink  more 
than  enough  of  the  water  that  has  just 
worked  such  a  strange  and  wonderful  charm 
on  Lowley!" 

When  Scanton  had  finished  speaking,  he 
saw  a  very  puzzled  look  overclouding  the 
faces  of  his  two  friends;  but  all  that  he 
would  say  as  further  explanation  of  the 
matter  was: 

"Boys,  the  water  which  you  have  just 
drunk,  boasts  of  a  legend  as  old  as  the  very 
hills  themselves.  When  you  get  to  the  Isth- 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    167 

mus,  talk  to  the  men  who  have  lived  there 
for  years  and  years,  and  they  will  tell  you 
why  they  have  gone  and  returned,  and  why 
it  was  that  they  just  couldn't  stay  away." 

But  Willinger  and  Lowley  were  none  the 
wiser  after  Scanton  had  got  through  speak- 
ing; and  so,  with  the  same  puzzled  look 
upon  their  faces,  they  left  the  room,  and 
.went  their  way  home — both  of  them  filled 
with  the  mystery  of  the  water  in  the  bottle. 


168  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


IV. 


The  Monday  morning  that  Willinger  and 
Lowley  had  fixed  to  call  upon  the  Shipper 

of  the  " "  to  ask  him  to  take  them  to 

Colon,  dawned,  at  last,  for  these  two  men. 
It  was,  in  sooth,  a  day  mixed  with  hopes 
and  fears  for  both  of  them;  nevertheless 
they  were  up  betimes,  and  out  on  the  noisy 
streets,  cheerfully  going  about,  as  they 
thought  unto  themselves,  the  very  last  mis- 
sion of  their  lives!  Finally  they  reached 
the  pier  at  which  the  steamer  was  lying; 
and  Willinger  who,  as  it  had  been  pre- 
viously arranged,  was  to  do  the  talking,  left 
his  friend  on  the  dock  and  boarded  the  ship 
in  search  of  the  Captain,  whom  he  soon 
found  and  told  what  he  wanted— 

"My  good  fellow,"  replied  the  Comman- 
der after  Willinger  had  unburdened  him- 
self to  him,  "this  is  not  the  time  for  you  to 
go  to  the  Isthmus!  Why,  hang  it,  there 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING.    169 

isn't  a  blessed  thing  doing  there  yet;  and 
it  seems  to  me  you'd  have  sense  enough  to 
remain  where  you  are  rather  than  go  to  the 
Isthmus  at  this  unsettled  stage  of  the 
game;  but,  of  course,  it's  just  like  the  rest 
of  you  people  up  here :  you  imagine  because 
a  Commission  and  a  few  civil  engineers 
have  gone  to  Colon  that  work  on  the  Canal 
is  in  full  blast  already ;  but  you  never  made 
such  a  mistake  in  all  your  life,  I  can  tell 
you!  The  fact  is,  in  my  opinion,  it  will  be 
some  months  yet  before  anything  in  the 
shape  of  Canal  work  proper  will  be  at- 
tempted; therefore,  be  advised  by  me  and 
stay  where  you  are  for  the  present."  To  all 
of  which  the  undaunted  and  persistent 
pleader,  by  way  of  answer,  opened  up  an- 
other and  more  powerful  onslaught  of  sup- 
plications, before  the  earnestness  of  which 
the  Captain  felt  himself  compelled  to  capitu- 
late; for  he  finally  consented  to  include  the 
two  men  on  the  ship's  papers  that  voyage. 

The  interview  over,  Willinger  left  the 
steamer,  whistling,  "For  he's  a  jolly  good 
fellow/'  by  way,  no  doubt,  of  eulogizing  the 


170  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

captain  and  giving  expression  to  the  satis- 
faction he  more  or  less  felt  over  the  result 
of  his  much  dreamt-of  mission ;  for  when  he 
stepped  from  the  gang-plank  on  to  the  dock, 
his  face  was  lighted  with  smiles  as  he  said  to 
Lowley  : 

"It's  all  fixed,  Jim,  we're  to  be  on  board 
to-morrow  morning  at  9  o'clock  sharp;  the 
boat  sails  at  1  p.  m.,  and  we're  to  go  before 

the  mast " 

-  "Go  before  the  mast!"  exclaimed  Lowley 
in  a  voice  of  unmistakable  terror,  as  he 
stepped  back  a  pace  or  two  and  began  to 
turn  his  hands  over,  over  and  over  again,  by 
way,  it  seemed,  of  protesting  against  their 
performing  such  menial  service  as  the  one 
that  had  been  assigned  to  them. 

"Why,  yes,  Jim,  and  what  about  it? — bet- 
ter men  than  you  and  I,  I  can  assure  you," 
said  Willinger  philosophically,  "have  done 
the  selfsame  thing  at  one  time  in  their  lives, 
and  considered  it  no  disgrace  at  all — tut ! — 
tut! — tut,  man!  What,  in  the  name  of 
heaven,  did  you  expect  anyhow?  You,  cer- 
tainly, didn't  think,  for  a  moment,  that  you 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    171 

were  going  to  occupy  the  Skipper's  state- 
room, and  his  seat  at  the  saloon-table — did 
you?  If  you  did,  say,  'forget  it'  at  once! 
May  going  before  the  mast,  my  boy,  be  all 
the  harm  that  might  attend  us  in  this  un- 
dertaking of  ours;  so,  come  on  now,  and 
quit  fooling  with  your  hands,  which,  let  us 
admit,  are  beautiful  and  tender,  if  by  so 
doing,  it  will  give  you  pleasure.  And  yet, 
perhaps,  it  would  be  better  if  you  looked 
instead  upon  the  cheerful  side  of  things, 
and  believe,  despite  of  present  conditions, 
that  all  will  be  well  at  the  end" ;  after  which 
little  exhortation,  off  they  both  went  to  tell 
Scanton  that  they  were  sailing  the  next  day 
for  the  Isthmus — the  new  El  Dorado. 


172  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


V. 


It  was  in  the  month  of  April,  1904;  the 
sun  was  shining  brilliantly,  silvering  every- 
thing around  New  York  City  and  the 
suburbs.  The  trees  along  the  streets  and 
avenues  had  just  begun  to  rehabilitate  them- 
selves with  infant  leaves  and  summer  bloom 
on  every  bough.  On  the  sidewalks,  the  tiny 
sparrows  skipped  and  hopped,  and  twittered 
a  merry  song  as  Willinger  and  Lowly  lei- 
surely went  their  way  towards  the  steamer. 

Stopping  upon  the  road  once  to  take  in, 
so  to  speak,  a  last  look  of  their  late  sur- 
roundings, Willinger  remarked  in  a  voice 
that  smacked  of  forced  cheerfulness : 

"That's  right,  Jim;  take  in  all  the  sights 
while  you  have  the  chance  of  doing  so;  for 
we  don't  know  when  we'll  ever  be  this 
side  of  the  world  again !  Then  again,  where 
we're  going  to,  we  won't  come  across  any- 
thing like  that  sky-scraper  before  you  now; 
neither  will  we  find  L's  there  at  all — only 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    173 

apologies  for  coaches,  drawn  by  horses,  like 
the  one  of  Mark  Twain's  creation — hat- 
racks!  But  that  is  neither  here  nor  there 
to  either  of  us;  so  let's  be  moving";  with 
which  command,  they  both  resumed  their 
journey  and  did  not  stop  again  until  they 
reached  the  pier,  where  they  found  Scanton 
waiting  for  them. 

"Well,  boys,"  he  said,  "I've  come  to  wish 
good-bye  and  God-speed  to  both  of  you. 
Keep  a  stiff  upper  lip,  Jim;  and,  say, 
don't  you  put  up  such  an  ugly  face  as  that, 
when  you  are  just  about  to  cross  the  waters 
— it's  bad  luck,  and  enough  to  stir  the  wrath 
of  all  the  storms  pent  up  in  the  four  quar- 
ters of  heaven!  So,  brace  up  now,  and  get 
aboard  cheerfully,"  advised  Scanton,  who 
remained  -on  the  steamer  with  his  two 
friends  until  the  last  gong  was  sounded,  and 
a  coarse  sailor- voice  yelled  out  shrilly : 

"All  ashore  that  ain't  a-going  to  Colon !" 
Then  everything  on  deck  was  bustle  and  con- 
fusion; everybody  ran  to  and  fro  excitedly, 
jostling  against  each  other  in  their  mad,  sad 
endeavor  to  get  their  share  of  farewell  kisses 


174  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

and  hand-shakes,  which  came  to  an  abrupt 
halt  when  the  ship  sounded  a  shrill  blast  of 
her  whistle,  that  stirred  some  hearts  with 
emotion!  Then  followed  the  handkerchief 
season,  and  not  a  fe\v  tears  were  shed.  Fin- 
ally the  last  gang-plank  was  lowered,  and 
the  Captain  on  the  bridge,  sang  out  at  the 
top  of  his  voice : 

"Le'  go  your  stern  line!"  To  which  com- 
mand the  answer  came  back  promptly : 

"All  clear  aft,  sir!"  following  which,  an- 
other deep  blast  of  the  ship's  whistle  was 
heard,  as  the  steamer  moved  slowly  and 
majestically  out  to  sea,  midst  the  waving  of 
hats  and  handkerchiefs  from  all,  Scanton 
doing  his  share  of  it  to  his  two  outgoing 
friends,  who  had  just  begun  the  first  chapter 
of  their  Isthmus  adventure. 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    175 


VI. 


On  the  first  night  out  at  sea,  strange 
dreams  were  those  that  haunted  poor  Low- 
ley,  who,  pessimistic  as  he  always  had  been 
over  this  Panama  trip,  in  which  he  thought 
he  had  been  practically  coerced,  got  some- 
how or  other,  to  look  upon  his  dreams  in  the 
light  of  an  evil  prophecy;  so  much  so  that, 
growing  nervous  about  them,  he  proceeded, 
the  very  next  morning  early,  to  relate  the 
whole  thing  to  Willinger,  who,  however,  by 
way  of  emphasizing  his  scepticism  in  all 
such  matters,  drove  him  away,  saying : 

"For  heaven's  sake,  Jim,  go  along  with 
your  foolish  nightmares,  and  give  me  a  rest, 
will  you !  Don't  believe  in  dreams,  anyhow ! 
— never  have,  and  never  will,  'world  with- 
out end,  amen' — guess  you  must  have  eaten 
something  last  night  that  didn't  quite  agree 
with  that  delicate  digestion  of  yours;  and 
that's  all  there  is  to  it;  so  go  now,  and  get 


176  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

started  in  your  work  before  the  Mate  comes 
around  and  finds  you  loafing !" 

After  this  unsympathetic  rejoinder,  Low- 
ley  went  his  way  and  dreamt  no  more  on 
the  uneventful  balance  of  the  voyage,  the 
seventh  day  of  which  saw  himself  and  his 
friend  safely  landed  in  Colon. 

As  soon  as  they  reached  the  dock,  on 
which  they  were  the  very  first  ones  to  alight, 
they  began  to  gaze  wistfully  around,  when 
Lowley  saw,  in  the  distance,  a  short,  stout, 
bow-legged  gentleman,  who  was  busy  at  the 
time,  superintending  the  landing  of  the  pas- 
sengers' baggage  which  was  to  be  sent  across 
the  Road  on  a  special  train  leaving  almost 
immediately;  and  it  was  to  this  gentleman 
he  walked  up  and  addressed  himself : 

"Pardon  me,  sir,"  he  said  with  an  air 
of  respect  that  showed  good  breeding; 
"we've  just  got  in  on  the  boat  from  New 
York,  and,  being  strangers,  would  feel 
obliged  for  any  information  you  could  give 
us  about  this  place,  of  which  we  have  been 
hearing  so  much  lately.  While  in  the  States 
we  were  told  that  things  were  booming  down 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    177 

here,  and  so  we  decided  to  come  on  the 
chance  of  getting  a  job  either  with  the  Rail 
Road  or  the  Canal  Commission.  What  do 
you  think  are  the  prospects,  sir?  We  need 
work  quickly,  for  our  funds  are  rather 
limited." 

At  the  moment,  Louie  was  taken  aback 
for  an  answer,  because  he  knew,  full  well, 
that  things  were  by  no  means  what  they 
had  been  represented  abroad  to  the  unfor- 
tunate strangers,  for  whom  he  felt  keenly; 
but  he  finally  gathered  himself  up,  and  said, 
in  reply  to  the  question  that  had  been  put  to 
him: 

"Gentlemen,  I'm  sorry  to  tell  you  that  you 
have  heard  all  wrong.  Outside  of  some  lit- 
tle sanitary  work  that  is  going  on,  and  great 
plans  of  organization,  there  is  really  noth- 
ing doing  that's  worth  talking  about;  any- 
how, it  will  do  no  harm  for  both  of  you  to 
look  around  and  see  the  exact  condition  for 
yourselves.  I  do  not  wish  to  discourage 
you,  but  I  am  afraid  you  have  come  too 
soon." 

To  the  two  strangers,  all  this  was,  natur- 


178  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

ally,  a  very  great  disappointment;  for  they 
had  travelled  nineteen  hundred  and  seventy 
miles,  under  unpleasant  circumstances  at 
that,  but  to  be  told  that  "There  was  nothing 
doing  yet." 

Observing  the  look  of  distress  upon  their 
faces,  Louie  said  to  them,  encouragingly : 

"Never  mind,  gentlemen,  don't  give  up 
the  ship  yet, — never  say  die,  even  up  to  the 
last  moment;  if  it  does  happen  that  you  do 
get  stuck  finally,  why  then,  come  and  see 
me,  and  I'll  do  the  best  I  can  to  help  you  out 
of  a  box";  with  which  assurance,  the  two 
fellows  picked  up  their  grips  and,  with 
them,  as  much  courage  as  they  could  possi- 
bly muster,  and  left  the  dock  to  seek  lodg- 
ings in  the  town. 

Limited  means,  of  course,  compelled  them 
to  select  the  cheapest,  which  was  a  Chinese 
restaurant,  situated  in  Bottle  Alley,  at  the 
rear  of  the  Passenger-station  of  the  Panama 
Rail  Road  Company.  The  room  assigned 
to  them  measured  no  more  than  ten  feet  ten, 
and,  as  for  the  furniture,.well,  this  consisted 
of  two  canvas  folding-cots,  two  straw-pil- 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    179 

lows,  that  had  no  covers  on  them  (no  sheets 
at  all),  two  chairs  that  might  have  reigned 
from  the  time  Columbus  discovered  Amer- 
ica, one  crippled  table,  that  stood  upon  three 
legs — the  wall  doing  crutch-service  for  the 
missing  one — and  a  candle  stuck  into  an 
empty  bay-rum  bottle  that  stood  upon  the 
table. 

The  walls  and  ceiling  of  the  apartment 
were  black  with  the  smoke  and  smut  of 
years'  opium;  and  as  for  the  floors — well, 
you  could  have  planted  in  the  soil  that  cov- 
ered them,  and  at  the  end  have  reaped  a 
pretty  fair  harvest! 

And  so,  in  a  frame  of  mind  that  can  bet- 
ter be  imagined  than  described,  Lowley 
gazed  around  the  room  looking  completely 
dumbfounded!  After  a  short  while,  how- 
ever, both  men  laid  their  grips  upon  the 
chairs,  exchanged  quick  glances  with  each 
other,  and  for  a  moment  there  was  deep  si- 
lence, which  Willinger  was  the  first  to 
break. 

"Gracious  goodness,  Lowley!  why  do  you 
put  on  such  a  long  face  as  that,  will  you  tell 


180  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

me?  As  for  the  room,  don't  worry  about  it: 
I  shall  see  that  it  is  scrubbed  out  nicely  the 
very  first  thing  in  the  morning;  so  come  on, 
now,  and  let's  take  a  short  stroll  along  the 
streets  in  order  to  get  acquainted  with  the 
town.  I  think  that  will  do  us  more  good 
than  sitting  here,  moping  over  things,  which 
cannot  be  remedied  immediately." 

It  was  not  long  after  this  little  speech  of 
Willinger,  that  the  two  men  were  out  on 
the  streets,  going  along  Calle  Frente,  the 
principal  thoroughfare  of  the  town,  and 
thence  to  Cristobal,  the  late  French  Settle- 
ment, which  is  now  the  head-quarters  of  the 
Isthmian  Canal  Commission  and  its  em- 
ployes. On  their  way,  they  stopped  to  talk 
with  merchants,  who  complained  to  them  of 
the  sad  state  of  business  at  the  moment ;  but 
who  felt  certain  that,  as  soon  as  the  Ameri- 
cans had  gained  a  good  foot-hold  in  the 
place,  things  would  grow  immeasurably  bet- 
ter. The  only  thing  that  Willinger  and 
Lowley  found  booming  at  the  time,  was 
land,  every  desirable  lot  of  which  had  been 
taken  up  by  local  and  foreign  speculators  at 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    181 

enormous  prices;  and  they,  therefore,  saw, 
at  a  glance,  that  the  present  outlook  was 
gloomy,  and  that  there  was  no  immediate 
hope  for  them,  in  the  way  of  obtaining  a 
position.  And  so,  on  their  way  back  to  the 
restaurant,  Lowley,  who  was  deeply  con- 
cerned over  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
which  he  had  turned  over  carefully  in  his 
mind,  took  the  opportunity  of  saying : 

"Well,  Charlie,  I  guess  we  had  better  go 
back  to  God's  Country  by  the  same  steamer 
that  brought  us  here;  for,  really,  I  do  not 
see  the  use  of  waiting  any  longer :  the  place 
is  as  dead  as  a  door-nail — darn  my  soul  if  it 
isn't!  I  could  just  kick  myself  for  coming 
so  soon.  My  first  intention  was  to  wait  till 
things  had  got  better ;  and  I  regret  now  that 
I  did  not  carry  it  out  to  the  letter." 

"Oh,  give  us  a  rest,  Jim!"  interrupted 
Willinger;  "why,  hang  it,  we've  only  just 
got  in  on  the  boat  and  you  begin  to  talk 
about  returning  already!  I'd  like  to  know 
what  kind  of  a  man  you  are,  anyhow !  Can't 
you  have  a  little  patience  and  make  up  your 
mind  to  face  the  music  as  cheerfully  as 


182  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Mark  Tapley  did  when  he  went  to  Eden? 
Why,  Jim,  you  don't  know  what  might  turn 
up  for  us  yet;  as  for  me,  despite  of  your 
pessimism,  I'm  hoping  it  will  be  trumps! 
Anyhow,  we  have  no  time  to  lose  over  senti- 
ment :  we'll  have  to  be  up  and  doing ;  to-mor- 
row morning  we  must  see  if  we  can  get  any- 
thing to  do,  either  with  the  Road  or  with  the 
Commission."  But  nothing  that  Willinger 
said  succeeded  in  striking  one  ray  of  hope  in 
Lowley's  disappointed  mind  and  body. 

The  day  waned  to  evening;  supper-time 
had  come,  and  both  men  sat  down  to  their 
first  meal  in  Colon,  with  little  or  no  inclina,- 
tion  to  eat  at  all.  Around  the  table,  which 
had  no  cloth  upon  it — nothing  but  the  bare, 
grim,  naked  boards  that  revealed  again  the 
extreme  misery  of  the  place — were  seated, 
on  wooden  benches,  a  motley  crew  composed 
of  Coolies,  Italians,  Chinese,  and  Jamaica- 
negroes,  almost  every  one  of  them  besotted 
in  liquor,  a  so-called  rum  or  seco,  concocted 
in  this  Chinese  den. 

Loud  talk  and  the  foulest  kind  of  lan- 
guage filled  the  room  uproariously — to  say; 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    183 

nothing  of  the  unpleasant  combination  of 
odors  that  arose  from  this  mixed  and  de- 
graded gathering ! 

In  the  midst  of  the  terrible  uproar,  Low- 
ley,  by  way  of  "drowning  his  thoughts  and 
killing  time,"  began  to  beat  a  lively  tattoo 
upon  his  glass  with  a  knife  that  had  as 
many  notches  in  it  as  an  old  cross-cut  saw 
had;  finally,  he  laid  the  knife  aside,  re- 
moved the  glass  a  little  bit  from  him,  and 
remarked  to  Willinger  in  a  voice  that  sa- 
vored of  extreme  disgust : 

"This,  Charlie,  is  the  toughest,  darn  place 
I've  ever  struck  in  my  life!  And  just  think 
of  it,  too:  sitting  at  table  with  a  mob  like 
this! — some  of  them  niggers  at  that! — I'll 
swear  it's  more  than  I  can  put  up  with,  and 
we'll  have  to  get  out  of  this  as  soon  as  we 
can." 

It  was  just  at  the  end  of  this  speech  that 
Ling  Foo,  the  proprietor  of  the  restaurant, 
clothed  in  a  cotton  singlet,  his  only  upper 
garment,  which  was  black  with  kitchen- 
smut,  stepped  in  with  Willinger  and  Low- 
ley's  supper;  and,  tossing  both  plates 


184  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

quickly  down  upon  the  table,  strutted  out 
again  with  an  air  of  importance  that  might 
have  been  worthy  of  a  Chinese  emperor! 
Business  was  booming  that  evening;  and  so 
Ling  Foo,  who  was  cook  and  waiter  at  once, 
had  no  time  to  lose  over  his  customers,  of 
whom  there  were  lots  outside  waiting  to  fall 
into  the  first  vacant  seats  that  offered. 

The  bill  of  fare,  which  was  served  up  in 
apologetical  crockery,  consisted  of  rice, 
bacalao — and  the  meanest  kind  of  codfish  it 
was  too — tasajo,  a  kind  of  dried  native 
meat,  baked  in  the  sun  and  sold  by  the  yard ; 
yam,  yucca  and  plantain,  with  a  finale  of  the 
now  ubiquitous  banana. 

With  the  exception  of  the  last  mentioned 
course,  the  two  men,  left  their  meals  un- 
tasted,  and  went  out  to  the  streets  in  the 
direction  towards  the  beach,  to  forget  their 
troubles,  if  that  were  possible. 

The  night  was  calm  and  beautiful;  not  a 
ripple  stirred  upon  the  waters;  in  the 
heaven,  that  was  without  a  cloud,  the  white 
moon  rolled  and  a  million  stars  lit  up  their 
torches;  the  low-lying  west  was  still 


AN    CNfiEEDED    WARNING    185 

streaked  with  moribund  shadows  of  the 
dead  day's  sun;  and,  like  a  diamond  set  in 
the  night,  a  large  lone  star  gleamed  out,  sen- 
tinel-wise, over  the  Toro  Lighthouse! 

Leaving  the  beach,  the  two  men  walked 
down  Front  Street,  where  they  came  to  a 
well  known  saloon,  before  which  they 
stopped,  and  finally  went  in  to  get  a  fresco, 
for  the  long  walk  had  made  them  somewhat 
thirsty. 

The  only  table  available  at  the  time,  was 
one  at  which  a  short,  stout  gentleman  sat 
with  a  glass  of  beer  before  him,  and  puffing 
away  at  a  concha.  His  coat  and  vest  were 
off,  and  he  wore  a  pair  of  "patent  double 
million  magnifyin'  microscopes  of  hextra 
power/'  which  quickly  focused  the  stran- 
gers, who,  at  the  invitation  of  the  stout  gen- 
tleman, seated  themselves  at  the  same  table. 
Immediately  after  they  got  settled  in  their 
chairs,  Willinger  sang  out  to  the  muchacho 
behind  the  bar:  "Two  lemonades,  please!" 

That  these  two  unfortunate  men  should 
have  found  their  way  to  this  particular  sa- 
loon, was,  indeed,  a  happy  inspiration;  for 


186  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Nitram  Ginhigs,  the  proprietor  of  the  estab- 
lishment, was  a  man  worth  knowing.  He 
had  been  on  the  Isthmus  ever  since  18 — , 
without  once,  it  is  said,  having  taken  a  vaca- 
tion. Ginhigs  knew  everybody;  everybody 
knew  Ginhigs — in  fact,  everybody  had  to 
know  him;  for  he  was  a  man  to  be  counted 
upon  in  every  emergency!  With  a  heart 
that  was  always  larger  than  his  pocket,  he 
had  sent  away,  at  his  own  expense,  from 
time  to  time,  many  a  poor  stranded  fellow 
rather  than  see  him  perish  on  the  spot ;  and 
this,  perhaps,  is  the  reason  why  good  old 
Nitram  staid  on  forever!  With  an  educa- 
tion beyond  the  mediocrity,  his  conversation 
was  always  interesting.  In  the  history  of 
Europe  he  simply  excelled ;  and  as  for  when 
you  drew  him  out  on  the  Irish  question, 
well,  then,  you  had  him  at  his  best;  for  he 
was  a  most  powerful  Irishman! 

He  loved  the  higher  arts,  and  was  fond  of 
poetry,  particularly  Moore's,  many  of 
whose  poems  he  could  rattle  off,  from  mem- 
ory, as  fluently  as  if  he  had  just  got  through 
learning  them  for  some  special  occasion;  in 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    187 

fact,  so  intense  was  his  admiration  for 
Moore,  that  many  of  the  songs  of  this  fa- 
mous Irish  singer  are  to  be  found  gracing 
the  walls  of  his  saloon  to-day. 

But  to  return  to  our  two  unfortunate 
travellers.  It  was  over  their  lemonades 
that  they  scraped  the  acquaintance  of 
Nitram,  whom  they  told  of  the  mistake  they 
had  made  in  coming  to  Colon  so  soon;  with 
which  Ginhigs  coincided,  of  course,  while  on 
the  other  hand  he  counselled  patience.  Then 
the  conversation  turned,  at  last,  to  other 
things  of  the  Isthmus:  the  proprietor  told 
them  some  thrilling  stories  of  the  '85  period ; 
of  the  troublous  times  of  '98  to  '02;  and, 
coming  to  things  of  a  yet  later  date,  he 
waxed  warm  and  dwelt  most  graphically  on 
the  events  of  the  ever-memorable  3rd  and 
4th  of  November,  1903,  which,  happily,  re- 
sulted in  the  birth  of  a  new  Republic,  and 
thus  made  possible  the  conditions  for  the 
union  of  the  two  great  oceans  by  the  favored 
Panama  route.  Then  their  talk  drifted 
upon  the  tide  of  Canal  matters,  over  which 


188  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Ginhigs  was  becoming  quite  loquacious;  but 
Willinger,  sipping  away  at  the  "tail  end"  of 
his  lemonade,  succeeded  in  edging  in  the  fol- 
lowing question : 

"But,  tell  me,  Mr.  Ginhigs,  when  do  you 
think  that  work  in  real,  true  earnest,  will 
begin  on  the  Canal?  I  mean  actual  digging 
and  excavating,  and  buckling  down  to  busi- 
ness in  every  sense  of  the  word !" 

"My  dear  good  fellow,"  came  the  answer 
promptly,  "you  ask  me  a  question  that  is 
not  very  easily  answered ;  and  I  should  state 
further,  that,  judging  from  the  tone  of  voice 
in  which  you  put  it,  you  underestimate  alto- 
gether, the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the 
work  that  is  to  be  accomplished !  Why,  man 
alive!  can't  you  understand  that  it  is  not 
only  the  building  of  a  Canal  at  issue?  There 
are  so  many  other  things  to  be  done  before 
the  Earth  can  be  disturbed  from  its  long 
years'  slumbering.  First  of  all,  there  is  or- 
ganization, which  must  take  time  in  a  con- 
cern that  involves  the  greatest  engineering 
feat  that  the  mind  of  man  has  ever  con- 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    189 

ceived  yet.  Then,  there  is  sanitation,  which 
has  been  so  sadly  neglected  by  the  late  Pa- 
rent-Government;  again,  there  is  the  build- 
ing of  suitable  quarters  in  Colon,  along  the 
line  of  Road,  and  in  Panama  for  the  housing 
of  employes,  of  whom  there  will  be  thou- 
sands coming — to  say  nothing  of  the  con- 
struction and  equipment  of  up-to-date  hospi- 
tals for  the  accommodation  of  the  sick ;  and, 
to  go  further,  the  installation  of  a  good 
water-service,  so  greatly  needed  on  this 
long-suffering  and  patient-waiting  Isthmus 
of  Panama!  When  all  these  things  shall 
have  been  finished,  you  can  then  expect  to 
see  the  dirt  fly,  but  not  before !  At  this  stage 
of  the  game,  gentlemen,  we  cannot  expect 
more  than  preparatory  work,  which  is  al- 
ways the  most  difficult  part  of  any  under- 
taking. What  shall  we  say  then  when  it 
comes  to  such  a  mammoth  one  as  this? — 
when  it  conies  to  demolishing  mountains, 
deviating  the  courses  of  rivers ;  shifting  rail- 
road track-beds;  and,  what  is  the  greatest 
problem  of  all  others,  disposing  of  the  dirt 


190  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

excavated  on  the  line!  My  dear,  good  fel- 
lows, if  I  know  anything  about  this  matter 
at  all,  I  really  do  not  see  how  work  on  the 
Canal  proper,  can  begin  before  two  years 
are  over  our  heads;  so  that,  if  my  judgment 
be  correct,  it  is  evident  you  have  come  too 
soon." 

It  was  just  11  o'clock  when  Ginhigs 
brought  his  somewhat  lengthened,  though 
sensible,  argument  to  a  close;  and,  the  hour 
being  late,  the  two  strangers  rose  from  their 
seats,  bade  good-night  to  the  genial  publi- 
can, and  took  their  way  to  their  room,  there 
to  give  their  troubles  up  to  two  hard  pil- 
lows, on  the  like  of  which  they  had  never 
laid  their  heads  before. 

The  night  was  long  and  weary;  plenty  of 
mosquitoes,  and  consequently,  very  little 
sleep  for  Willinger  and  Lowley,  who  were 
therefore,  glad  when  they  heard  the  cacho 
blowing,  and  when  they  saw  the  first  gray 
glimmer  of  the  dawn,  with  which  they  were 
up  arraying  themselves  in  their  "Sunday 
Penitentials,"  By  8  o'clock  both  of  them 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    191 

were  out,  going  the  rounds  in  search  of  em- 
ployment; but  everywhere  they  went  to, 
they  received  the  self-same  crushing  an- 
swer : 

"No  vacancy  at  present." 


192  PAX  AM  A    PICTURES. 


VII. 

It  was  the  Invicrno  Season,  in 'the  month 
of  May  1904;  the  rains  had  just  begun  to 
fall  copiously,  and  the  dear  little  martins 
were  returning  from  their  summer  nooks, 
across  the  Bay,  somewhere,  to  take  up  their 
old  abodes  among  the  stately  cocoanut-trees 
that  rim  the  beautiful  sea-front  of  Colon. 

Two  long,  weary  weeks  had  passed  since 
Willinger  and  Lowley  had  landed  from  the 
steamer;  but,  despite  of  all  their  efforts, 
going  from  place  to  place  each  day  in  search 
of  something  to  do,  they  were  still  without 
employment.  And  so,  as  time  went  on,  the 
situation  grew  from  bad  to  worse ;  for,  what 
was  more  serious  than  all,  the  little  money 
they  had  brought  with  them  from  the  States 
had  gone  all  but  a  few  pesos!  It,  therefore, 
occurred  to  them,  at  once,  that  they  had 
reached  a  point  where  it  was  a  case  of  "des- 
perate diseases  requiring  desperate  reme- 
dies;" and  so,  sitting  down  one  morning  in 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    193 

his  room  talking  the  situation    over    with 
Lowley,  Willinger  said : 

"I  tell  you  what  it  is,  Jim,  we'll  have  to 
begin  to  get  a  move  on  us  now ;  for  this  state 
of  things  cannot  continue  much  longer. 
We're  now  almost  at  our  tether's  end  for 
money,  and  what  I'm  worrying  most  about, 
is  how  we're  going  to  pay  that  hard  nut  of  a 
Chinaman  downstairs  the  ten  dollars  bal- 
ance we  owe  him  on  our  board  and  lodging. 
It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  the  time  has 
come  for  us  to  do  something,  no  matter  what 
it  may  be,  so  long  as  we  can  earn  enough 
therefrom  to  keep  us  from  starvation !  What 
do  you  say  to  calling  on  the  Stevedore  at  the 
American  W7harf,  and  finding  out  whether 
he  can  do  anything  for  us  or  not?  You  will 
remember  what  he  said  to  us  on  the  morning 
of  our  arrival  here:  his  words  were,  'Come 
and  see  me  in  case  you  get  stuck' ;  and  if  we 
ain't  stuck  now,  Jim,  why  I  would  just  like 
to  know  what  we  are  then.  'Stuck,'  I  should 
say  we  are ;  but  I  suppose  there  is  some  way 
out  of  the  difficulty,  and  so,  let  us  proceed  to 
find  it,  because  there  is  no  time  to  lose." 


194  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Here,  Lowley  became  quite  pensive;  he 
had  been  listening  in  bent  attitude;  his 
hands  closed  together  and  stuck  between  his 
knees,  his  eyes  fixed  steadily  on  one  particu- 
lar spot  on  the  floor;  but  he  finally  raised 
his  head,  and,  in  a  voice  that  was  full  of 
resignation  to  the  inevitable,  said: 

"Well,  Charlie,  all  right;  if  it  has  to  be 
old  chap;  I'm  ready  to  go  with  you  now"; 
with  which  both  men  arose  synchronously, 
picked  up  their  sombreros,  and  left  the  room 
in  a  hurry. 

They  soon  found  Neslo,  who  was  busy  at 
the  time,  attending  to  the  stowage  of  a  large 
lot  of  wine,  put  up  in  barrels,  which  had 
come  in  from  Panama  on  "No.  8"  the  even- 
ing before.  As  the  two  men  approached 
him,  Neslo  saw  at  a  glance  that  the  fellows 
were  in  trouble,  which  impression  was 
quickly  confirmed  by  Willinger,  who  stepped 
forward,  saying : 

"Good  morning,  Mr.  Neslo ;  we've  come  to 
ask  if  you  can  do  anything  for  us.  We're 
willing  to  shove  a  truck  even,  if  you'll  only 
give  us  a  show,  sir;  and  green  as  we  are  in 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    195 

that  sort  of  business,  we'll  do  our  best  to 
give  you  satisfaction." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Jamaicans  and  For- 
tune Islanders  were  the  kind  of  labor  chiefly 
employed  by  Neslo ;  but  it  is  on  record,  that 
it  was  never  known  vet  for  the  Stevedore  to 
send  away  a  white  man  in  need  of  work 
when  employment  could  be  found  on  the 
dock  for  him. 

So,  when  the  two  stranded  travellers  ap- 
plied to  him  for  a  job,  Neslo  pulled  a  narrow 
slip  of  paper  out  of  his  pocket,  stuck  the 
pointed  end  of  a  pencil  between  his  ample 
lips,  pulled  it  out  again,  and  began  figuring 
upon  the  quantity  of  freight  he  could  expect 
for  the  steamer  which  was  sailing  within  a 
day  or  so.  His  calculations  finished,  he 
said,  in  his  usual  familiar  manner: 

"All  right,  boys,  you  can  start  to  work 
the  next  'third,'  which  is  1  o'clock.  See 
those  two  trucks  lying  in  the  corner  over 
yonder?  Pick  'em  up  when  you  come,  and 
go  at  it  cheerfully ;  it's  the  best  I  can  do  for 
you  now;  but  never  mind  that:  you  don't 


196  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

know  how  soon  something  better  might  turn 
up  for  both  of  you." 

Promptly  on  time,  and  according  to  ar- 
rangement, the  two  men  returned  to  the 
pier,  backed  their  coats,  and  started  to  work 
in  real  good  earnest ;  but  the  keen-eyed  Steve- 
dore saw  immediately  that  the  poor  fellows 
were  not  accustomed  to  shoving  a  truck ;  for 
he  noticed  that  they  oftentimes  jostled 
against  the  other  laborers,  to  the  extent,  oc- 
casionally, of  upsetting  the  loads  they  car- 
ried. This,  naturally,  tickled  all  the  negroes 
to  death;  for  they  thought  to  themselves, 
"Well,  de  boss  not  gwine  put  up  wrid  dat  sort 
of  t'ing  very  long";  over  which  idea  they 
chuckled,  of  course,  because  it  is  a  well 
known  fact,  that  the  negroes  never  wanted 
to  see  any  other  but  people  of  their  own 
color  working  on  the  dock  among  them.  The 
presence  of  a  white  man  laboring  with  them 
was  always  certain  to  evoke  the  negroes'  re- 
sentment, which  took  the  degraded  form  of 
loading  the  white  man's  trucks  with  bur- 
dens that  were  almost  impossible  to  carry! 
it  did  not  take  long  for  Willinger  and 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    197 

Lowley  to  discover  that  there  was  a  plot  on 
foot  against  them;  for  the  very  first  morn- 
ing on  which  they  went  to  work,  they  over- 
heard the  following  in  a  vernacular  that 
was  strange  to  both  of  them : 

"Hi,  Brown !  Look  dem  'merican  white 
men  de  shove  truck,  eh?  My  son,  dem  don' 
kno'  one  damn  t'ing  about  it  at  all!  Fo' 
every  time  dem  go,  dem  sure  fe  upset  what 
dem  de  carry.  Dem  jus'  done  bus'  up  a 
whole  barrel  o'  pilot  biscuits,  de  chupid 
t'ings  dem!  But  me  well  an'  glad  tho',  for 
dem  have  no  right  'pon  de  dock  at  all.  But 
'top,  no,  I  gwine  fe  fix  dem  f o'  true ;  de  nex' 
time  dem  come  with  dem  trucks,  I  is  gwine 
fe  give  dem  such  a  load  dem  never  wi'  able 
fe  carry,  and  den  me  wi'  see  how  dem  like  de 
job  dem  have  here." 

The  man  who  spoke  thus  was  a  tall  Ja- 
maica negro,  who  wore  a  slouch-hat,  that 
shaded  a  pair  of  large  fierce  eyes,  which 
might  have  fitted  the  very  devil  himself! 
and  this  of  course,  was  the  fellow  who  had 
been  delegated  by  his  paisanos  to  perpetrate 
the  act  of  jealousy,  in  which,  however,  the 


198  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

negro  had  been  foiled,  because  the  threat 
was  promptly  reported  to  Neslo,  who,  in  lan- 
guage not  by  any  means  poetic,  told  the  fel- 
low he  would  dismiss  him  if  he  attempted  to 
annoy  "those  two  white  men." 

After  this,  everything  went  on  smoothly, 
and  Willinger  and  Lowley  found  constant 
employment  on  the  dock ;  but  hard  work  and 
exposure  in  a  tropical  climate  had,  at  last, 
begun  to  tell  on  both  of  them :  their  figures 
were  bent,  and  the  crimson  flush  of  the 
boreal  winters  that  was  on  their  cheeks 
when  they  landed,  had  vanished  completely ! 
In  fact,  they  were  not  the  same  men  at  all; 
yet  they  worked  on  cheerfully,  hoping  that 
something  better  would  turn  up  for  them 
soon.  But  there  came  a  day  when  only 
Lowley  reported  for  duty;  Willinger  had 
taken  sick  the  night  before,  and  he  was 
unable  to  leave  his  bed  the  next  morning. 

"Guess  the  work  went  hard  \vith  him," 
said  Lowley  to  the  Stevedore,  in  answer  to 
his  inquiry ;  "and  then,  you  see,  sir,"  he  con- 
tinued, "the  poor  fellow  was  never  accus- 


AX    UNHEEDED    WARXIXG    199 

tomed  to  anything  like  this — really,  I  don't 
know  how  he  stood  it  for  as  long  as  he  did! 
I  thought  he  would  have  caved  in  long  be- 
fore this.  Last  night  he  had  a  terrible  chill, 
that  shook  the  very  cot  upon  which  he  lay; 
and  such  a  burning  fever  set  in  that  I  be- 
came alarmed  and  called  in  a  doctor,  who 
was  a  bald-headed  man,  with  a  red  face,  and 
a  pronounced  Jewish  nose — I  can't  remem- 
ber his  name  now  for  the  life  of  me ;  but  that 
cuts  no  figure  at  all;  suffice  it  to  say,  he 
seemed  a  pretty  good  sort  of  fellow,  and  took 
an  interest  in  the  case  at  once.  He  gave  my 
friend  some  medicines,  and  made  no  charge 
for  them  whatever ;  neither  for  his  visit ;  but 
that  I  think  was  because  Charlie  saved  his 
dog  the  other  day  from  being  run  over  by  a 
switch  engine  in  the  yard.'' 

"I'm  sorry,  old  chap,"  said  Neslo,  "to  hear 
such  sad  news  about  your  friend — let  me 
know  if  I  can  do  anything  for  him";  and 
with  this,  the  last  cacho  sounded,  and  Low- 
ley  ran  off  in  a  hurry,  picked  up  his  truck, 
and  worked  till  9  o'clock,  the  breakfast  hour. 


200  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

Too  worried  to  partake  of  the  morning's 
meal,  he  went  direct  to  his  cheerless  room, 
and  as  he  entered  upon  the  threshold  of  it, 
Willinger  said  to  him,  somewhat  feebly : 

"So  glad  you've  come,  old  chap;  thought 
you  would  never  have  shown  up  here  again ; 
I'm  feeling  mighty  rocky,  I  can  tell  you :  my 
back  is  almost  breaking  in  two,  and  my  head 
— Gee!  — it's  just  on  fire! — and  such  a 
thirst  as  I  have  on  me — nothing  seems  to 
quench  it  in  the  least  way — tried  to  swallow 
some  tea  the  Chinaman  gave  me  a  while  ago, 
but  couldn't:  it  was  the  vilest  stuff  I  had 
ever  put  to  my  lips  yet";  and  as  Willinger 
uttered  the  last  word,  he  felt  so  exhausted 
that  he  threw  his  head  back  upon  his 
hard  straw  pillow ,  and  tossed  and  tossed 
about  the  cot,  unable  to  find,  in  any 
change  of  posture,  a  moment's  peace  or 
ease — nothing:  but  weariness  and  the  cease- 
less shiftings  of  his  body;  at  all  of  which 
Lowley  became  so  alarmed  and  excited, 
that  he  walked  across  the  room,  two  or 
three  times,  in  deep  meditation;  and, 
pausing,  finally,  at  the  doorway,  the  frame- 


-4.Y    UNHEEDED    WARNING    201 

work  of  which  he  held  up  as  if  to  adjust  his 
equilibrium,  said : 

"Charlie,  I'll  be  gone  just  for  a  few  min- 
utes" ;  and,  without  another  word  from  him, 
as  to  the  nature  of  his  mission,  off  he  went, 
returning  shortly  with  Doctor  Ladnar. 

"You'll  have  to  get  the  felloAv  out  of  this 
here  den  pretty  quick,  I  tell  you !"  was  Lad- 
nar's  first  prescription,  as  he  took  off  his  hat 
to  mop  his  bald  head,  which  glistened  as 
though  it  had  just  been  anointed !  Then  he 
pulled  a  thermometer  from  out  his  waist- 
coat pocket,  and  shook  it  up  and  down  at  a 
lively  pace  two  or  three  times  or  more ;  after 
which  performance  he  stuck  it  gently  under 
the  patient's  tongue,  and  as  he  drew  the  in- 
strument out  again  and  examined  it,  he 
turned  away  with  an  ominous  shake  of  his 
head,  and  beckoned  to  Lowley,  who  followed 
him,  and  to  whom  he  said  in  a  low  whisper : 

"105 ! — your  friend  is  pretty  sick,  sir,  and 
I  advise  you  to  get  him  into  the  hospital  as 
quickly  as  possible;  so  you  had  better  go 
right  now  and  see  your  boss,  and  have  him 
arrange  the  matter  for  youv ;  over  which  in- 


202  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

structions  not  a  moment  was  lost ;  for  with- 
in an  hour  or  so  after  the  doctor  had  ordered 
the  removal,  the  patient,  thanks  to  Neslo, 
was  comfortably  settled  in  the  Bail  Road 
Hospital  on  the  beach. 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    203 


VIII. 

The  hospital,  which  was  built  over  the  sea, 
commanded  a  pleasant  view  of  the  harbor. 
It  was  a  two-story  wooden  structure,  with  a 
veranda  all  around  it,  and  the  back  of  the 
building  looked  towards  the  Orient.  In  this 
direction  it  was  that  Willinger  occupied  a 
room,  and  his  great  delight,  each  morning, 
was  to  watch  the  sun  rise  over,  and  silver, 
the  Santa  Rita  Hills  in  the  distance.  Haply, 
with  each  successive  dawn,  there  came  to 
him  the  hope  that  the  next  day  would  find 
him  on  his  legs  again ;  and  yet  little  thought 
he  that  time  was  when  he  might  not  have 
seen  more  than  one  sunrise  from  the  same 
hospital !  But  this  was  in  the  days  of  Doctor 
Quackmire,  a  man  who  believed  in  making 
quick  work  of  his  patients,  and  who  always 
left  it  to  a  tall,  handsome  lady,  dressed  in 
ever-ready  epicedial  garments,  to  atone  for 
his  crime  with  the  meaningless  tears  that 


204  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

she  was  wont  to  shed  at  the  graves  of  his 
unfortunate  victims, — in  short,  Quackmire 
was  a  veritable  Mount  Pelee ! 

This  condition  of  things,  howrever,  did  not 
prevail  for  long:  the  Powers  that  Be  soon 
discovered  that  Quackmire  was  incompe- 
tent, and  so,  dismissed  him  summarily ;  as  a 
result  of  which,  this  would-be  doctor  packed 
up  his  traps  and  returned  to  his  northern 
home,  taking  with  him  the  small  fortune  he 
had  made,  in  a  comparatively  short  time, 
from  the  harvest  of  his  fatal  prescriptions 
— the  tall,  handsome,  lady,  of  the  free  and 
easy  falling  lagrimas,  accompanying  him,  of 
course. 

Happily,  however,  Doctor  Ladnar  was 
called  in  to  take  Quackmire' s  place ;  and  the 
appointment  turned  out  to  be  a  good  one,  be- 
cause, even  if  he  did,  like  Lulu  Glaser,  love 
dogs,  Ladnar  proved,  in  every  instance,  that 
he  knew  his  business  thoroughly ;  for  he  was 
most  successful  in  all  his  cases.  If  he  didn't 
succeed  in  knocking  the  Chagres  fever  out  of 
your  system  by  the  aid  alone  of  those  nice 
medicines,  calomel  for  one,  which  he  often- 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    205 

times  prescribed,  he  would  eventually  do  so 
by  adding  a  few  of  those  broad,  happy 
smiles  of  his,  which  generally  lighted  up  a 
sick-room  as  he  entered  it ;  but  that  was  not 
to  be  wondered  at  at  all,  because,  putting 
aside  the  fact  that  he  was  naturally  of  a 
genial  and  jovial  disposition,  he  was  the  doc- 
tor of  the  Sunshine  Society  of  Colon. 


206  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


IX. 


It  was  Sunday  morning,  and  the  peace  of 
the  Sabbath  Day  lay  like  a  benediction  over 
the  city.  From  the  tower  of  the  picturesque 
Christ-Church  on  the  Beach,  the  bells  tolled 
out  the  early  matin,  and  Willinger  started 
as  he  heard  the  first  chimes.  Haply,  the 
sound  of  them  had  stirred  within  him  the 
memory  of  a  bygone  time,  when  he,  as  a 
boy,  had  been  wont  to  kneel  in  his  church 
at  home,  side  by  side  with  his  mother,  the 
two  of  them  chanting  together  the  Lord's 
Prayer!  Perchance  her  dear,  sweet,  face 
rose  up  from  the  dead  past  before  him,  for 
he  wept  like  a  child. 

Wiping  away  the  tears  from  his  eyes,  he 
stretched  his  hand  over  to  a  chair  that  stood 
at  his  bedside,  picked  up  a  small  bell  which 
lay  upon  it,  and  rang  for  Nosilmot,  the 
nurse,  who  answered  the  summons  imme- 
diately. 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    207 

"Yes,  sir;  what  can  I  do  for  you?"  the 
Nurse  asked  gently  as  he  approached  Wil- 
linger. 

"I  want  you,"  replied  the  sick  man  feebly, 
"to  call  that  gentleman  you've  noticed  com- 
ing here  so  often  to  visit  me.  His  name  is 
Lowley,  and  you'll  find  him  on  the  American 
dock.  Tell  him  to  come  here  at  once :  I 
want  him  urgently";  which  command  was 
promptly  obeyed,  for  Lowley  was  soon  with 
his  sick  friend,  enquiring  tenderly: 

"Hello,  old  chap,  how  are  you  feeling  now, 
and  what  can  I  do  for  you?"  in  answer  to 
which,  the  patient  stared  blankly  for  a  mo- 
ment, but  finally  replied — pausing  before 
each  word  to  catch  his  breath,  which  came 
and  went  with  difficulty— 

"Jim,  my  good  fellow,  I'm  sinking  rap- 
idly; you  and  I  have  been  friends  for  long 
years  now,  and,  so,  before  I  die,  I  wish  to  tell 
you  something  I  had  never  told  you  yet." 

Then  the  sick  man  rested  for  a  brief  space, 
in  the  hush  of  which  Lowley  picked  up  Wil- 
linger's  hand,  and  pressed  into  its  icy  palm 
the  eloquence  of  his  enduring  friendship! 


208  PA  AM  MA     PICTURES. 

Finally,  in  the  silence,  that  was  broken  only 
by  the  rhythmic  splash  of  the  breakers  from 
far,  far,  seas  upon  the  near,  near  shore.  Wil- 
linger  withdrew  his  hand  from  Lowley's  and 
pulled  from  under  his  cotton  singlet  a 
golden  locket,  attached  to  which  was  a  bit  of 
blue  silken  ribbon,  which  he  gave  to  Lowley, 
saying : 

"Take  this,  Jim;  it's  all  I  have  to  give 
you ;  but  promise  me  this :  you  will  not  open 
it  until  I'm  dead.  She  gave  it  to  me,  Jim — • 
the  girl  I  loved  as  no  man  ever  loved  a 
woman  yet;  but  she  jilted  me  because  the 
tide  of  luck  had  turned  against  me,  and  all 
that  I  had  possessed  was  lost!  I  came  here 
for  her  sake  only,  thinking  to  make  lots  of 
money  to  enable  me  to  win  her  back  again; 
but  it's  all  over  now,  old  chap,  it's  all  over ; 
for  soon  I  shall  be  far — far — oh,  ever  so  far 
away!  Tell  her,  when  you  see  her,  as  you 
will  some  day,  I  know,  that  I  have  forgiven 
her — that  I  thought  of  her  and  loved  her  to 
the  last — yes,  to  the  very,  very  last!  Great 
God,  though,  is  it  possible  that  I  shall  never 
see  her  dear,  sweet  face  again?"  he  said, 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING     209 

with  much  emotion,  as,  in  his  anguish,  he 
raised  the  locket  to  his  parched  lips  and 
kissed  it  o'er  and  o'er  again  till,  overcome 
with  exertion,  he  fell  into  a  deep  swoon, 
which  lasted  for  some  little  time.  When  he 
awoke  he  saw  that  Lowley  was  still  by  his 
bedside,  and  he  said  to  him,  with  a  nervous 
tremor  in  his  voice: 

"Here  yet,  Jim? — so  good  of  you  to  have 
stayed  so  long  with  me;  but  it's  just  like 
you,  Jim — you  dear,  dear,  fellow !" 

And  the  patient  was  not  wrong;  for  Low- 
ley  had  remained  in  the  hospital  the  whole, 
of  that  Sunday  helping  to  nurse  his  sick 
friend;  now  smoothing  his  pillow;  now  ad- 
justing his  wasted  body  in  a  comfortable  po- 
sition; now  throwing  back  the  scattered 
threads  of  hair  that  lay  across  his  marble 
forehead,  until  it  came  to  evening,  when,  see- 
ing that  TVillinger  rested  calmly,  and  that 
death  was  not  yet  imminent,  he  left  the  hos- 
pital and  went  to  his  room  to  rest. 

The  next  morning  early,  however,  he  re- 
turned to  the  hospital  and  found  Willinger 
in  a  delirious  condition  and  nearing  the  end, 


210  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

"Charlie ! — Oh,  Charlie ! — don't  you  know 
me?"  asked  Lowley,  who  bent  down  over 
Willinger,  listening  to  catch  the  answer  for 
which  he  so  eagerly  awaited;  but  never  a 
word  came  back  to  him  from  the  lips  of  the 
dying  man — nothing  but  a  fixed,  glassy 
stare,  that  had  in  it  the  soul-deep  eloquence 
of  a  last  and  pathetic  farewell !  Soon,  how- 
ever, Willinger  swayed  restlessly  on  his  pil- 
lows ;  lifted  his  hand  slowly  and  moved  it  to 
and  fro  in  the  air,  as  if  to  catch  at  some- 
thing that  was  hovering  around  him;  then 
his  lips  trembled,  and  he  articulated  in  his 
last  wanderings,  and  with  his  latest  breath : 

"Jim,  --  where  —  are  —  you?  —  haven't 
seen  —  you  —  for  —  such  —  a  —  long  — 
long  —  time !  Jim  —  look  —  over  —  there 
there  —  yonder  —  can't  —  you  —  see  — 
her?  —  it  —  is  —  she  —  Jim  —  the  —  same 
—sweet — face — beckoning — to — me  —  and 
— telling  -  -  me  —  good-by— God — bless— 
her!  But  -  -  Jim — where — are — you?  I 
cannot  —  see  —  your  —  face  —  Jim  —  the 
lights  —  are  —  out  —  and  -  -  the  --  night 
—  has  —  grown — SQ— dark — and — cold  - 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    211 

good — by — Jim — Good — G-o-o—  he  said ; 
but  the  last  word  was  lost  in  an  echo,  for 
just  then  the  dying  man  gasped  two  or  three 
times,  and  stiffened  out  his  wasted  limbs — 
his  eyes  closing  gradually ;  finally,  a  hollow, 
gurgling  sound  rattled  in  his  throat,  and, 
with  one  last  struggle,  that  shook  his  very 
frame,  Charlie  Willinger,  despite  of  Lad- 
nar's  skill  and  Nosilmot's  careful  pursing, 
fell  into  that  dreamless  sleep,  from  which 
there  is  no  awaking. 


212  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


X. 


The  next  day  Willinger  was  laid  to  rest  in 
the  quiet  little  cemetery  at  Mount  Hope, 
situated  some  two  miles  distant  from  Colon. 
The  funeral  cortege  was  a  scant  and  simple 
one,  composed  only  of  Louie  Neslo,  Nitram 
Ginhigs,  Nosilmot,  the  hospital  nurse,  the 
Padre  and  Lowley,  and  four  negroes,  who 
had  been  engaged  to  carry  the  coffin  up  the 
hill,  whereon  the  countless  dead  of  Colon 
sleep  their  last,  long  sleep  beneath  the  shade 
of  the  kingly  palms  and  the  guav a-trees,  that 
drop  their  golden  blossoms  upon  the  graves 
of  the  rich  and  poor  alike ! 

The  burial  over,  the  funeral  train  re- 
turned to  the  city,  soon  after  which  Lowley 
was  in  his  cheerless  room  alone.  Taking  his 
hat  and  his  coat  off  as  he  entered,  he  walked 
out  on  the  balcony  to  scrape  from  off  his 
shoes  the  dull,  red  earth  they  had  gathered 
on  the  hill,  when,  lo !  he  beheld  the  setting 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    213 

sun !  The  west  was  all  aglow  with  a  great, 
red  ball  of  liquid  fire,  wound  about  with 
clouds  of  silver  gossamer  and  bars  of  gold, 
that  touched  the  waters  and  all  around  with 
a  beatific  splendor !  Then  Lowley's  troubled 
soul,  no  doubt,  went  out  to  the  peace  that  lay 
athwart  the  Occident,  for,  as  he  stood  up 
watching  the  dead  day's  sun  sink  gradually, 
down  beneath  the  crimsoned  Atlantic,  that 
stretched  out  in  the  distance  before  him, 
there  rose  from  out  the  depths  of  his  heart  a 
sigh  so  heavy  that  it  echoed  on  the  the  still 
night  air.  As  the  last  ray  of  the  expiring 
sun  went  down,  Lowley  repaired  to  his  room, 
drew  a  chair  close  up  to  the  table,  on  which 
a  dull  candle-light  flickered,  and  sat  down 
to  write. 


Bancroft  Libraxj 


"My  Dear  Scanton:  I  have  some  very  sad  news  to 
give  you — poor  Willinger  is  dead!  He  passed  away 
yesterday,  and  I'm  just  from  the  funeral.  I'm  sorry 
we  ever  came  here  so  soon;  it  has  been  a  great  blun- 
der, for  which,  however,  we  are  the  only  ones  to  blame 
— poor  dead  Charlie  and  myself!  I  sometimes  try  to 
school  myself  to  the  belief  that  we  did  it  for  the  best; 
but  when  I  remember  that  we  came  to  the  Isthmus  im- 
mediately after  the  ratification  of  the  Treaty  with 
Panama,  when  nothing  was  doing,  I  see  the  mistake 


214      M    PANAMA    PICTURES. 

clearer  yet  before  me.  I  shall  be  glad  to  get  out  of  this, 
which  I'm  trying  very  hard  to  do,  by  the  very  first 
steamer;  but,  unfortunately,  I  have  not  sufficient  means 
to  cover  the  value  of  the  passage;  in  fact,  I'm  on  my 
last  dollar. " 


Here  he  dropped  the  pen  abruptly,  and  in 
quite  an  agitated  manner.  There  was  the 
memory,  it  seemed,  of  something  overshad- 
owing his  face,  which  wrinkled  beneath  the 
impression  of  it;  his  head  drooped,  and  his 
right  hand  moved  slowly  towards  his  pocket, 
from  which  he,  finally,  withdrew  the  golden 
charm  which  Willinger  had  given  to  him 
upon  his  dying-bed,  and  which  he  held  close 
up  under  the  dim  candle-light,  scrutinizing 
it  with  eyes  that  looked  ever  so  far  away. 
At  last,  however,  he  drew  the  locket  nearer 
to  him,  opened  it,  and  when  he  recognized 
the  picture  it  contained,  he  started  violently 
and  exclaimed  aloud : 

"Great  Goodness! — it's  my  sister,  Mabel. 
Why  didn't  he  tell  me  about  it  before  he 
diecl?__  I  might  have  done  so  much  to  recon- 
cile matters  between  them  fyoth ;  but  it's  too 
late  now — too  late,"  he  repeated,  as  he 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    215 

stretched  his  arms  out  at  full  length  across 
the  table,  and  buried  his  face  between  them. 

Weary  with  the  late  vigils  at  Willinger's 
bedside,  he  soon  fell  into  a  quiet  slumber, 
from  which,  however,  he  was  suddenly  awak- 
ened by  the  touch  of  a  hand  upon  his  right 
shoulder.  Raising  his  head,  and  turning 
around  to  see  who  was  the  intruder,  he  came 
face  to  face  with  Nitram  Ginhigs,  who  had 
stepped  in  on  a  visit  of  condolence. 

"See  here,  my  good  fellow,"  said  Ginhigs 
in  his  usual  sympathetic  manner,  "this  sort 
of  thing  will  never  do  at  all — you'll  have  to 
brace  up  and  'face  the  music'  like  a  man! 
Tell  me,  is  there  anything  I  can  do  for  you?" 

"I'm  sure,  Mr.  Ginhigs,  it's  extremely 
kind  of  you,  a  perfect  stranger,"  responded 
Lowley,  in  a  voice  that  trembled  with  appre- 
ciation, "to  interest  yourself  so  much  in 
me;  but,"  he  continued,  "the  only  thing  I 
see  that  you  can  do  for  me  just  at  this  pres- 
ent moment,  is  to  tell  me,  sir,  how  to  get  out 
of  Colon  quickly.  I  admit  that  I  came  here 
too  soon;  and  that  the  fault  is  mine;  but 
then  I  have  suffered  and  paid  dearly  for  it 


216  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

all!"  To  which,  however,  Nitram  Ginhigs 
made  no  answer.  Silently  meditating,  he 
adjusted  his  spectacles  upon  his  ample  nose, 
dug  deep  down  into  his  pocket,  by  no  means 
as  large  as  his  heart,  and  pulled  from  out  of 
it  something  that  glittered  like  gold,  which 
he  left  in  Lowley's  hand,  and  quietly  walked 
out  of  the  room  without  saying  a  single 
word  to  the  recipient  of  the  secret  of  his 
charity!  But  there  was  nothing  strange 
about  this :  it  was  Nitram  Ginhigs  all  over ; 
for  he  was  a  man  who  never  waited  for,  nor 
wanted,  thanks  for  all  the  good  he  had  done, 
from  time  to  time,  in  the  town ;  and  heaven 
only  knows  how  much  of  gratitude,  if  any  at 
all,  he  ever  did  receive  for  the  manifold 
charities  which  he  dispensed  to  the  stranded 
ones,  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  daily. 

"Well,  I'll  see  him  and  thank  him  myself 
to-morrow,"  said  Lowley,  as  he  put  the 
money  away  and  resumed  his  letter  to  Scan- 
ton  : 


"Glad!  to  say  I  leave  for  God's  country  by  the  next 
steamer  positively;  will  tell  you  all  when  we  meet; 
don't  fail  to  write  to  my  sister,  Mabel,  in  Nebraska 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    217 

(you  know   her  address) ;   inform  her  of   my   home- 
coming, and   relate  to  her  my  condition   exactly— say 
that  I  hope  to  be  with  her  shortly. 
With  kindest   regards,   believe  me, 
Yours  very  truly, 

JAMES  LOWUY." 


218  PANAMA    PICTURES. 


XL 


About  a  fortnight  after  Lowley  had 
dispatched  his  letter,  he  found  himself  in 
New  York  City  once  again.  As  he  walked 
down  the  gang-plank  of  the  steamer,  with  a 
grip  in  his  hand  that,  apparently,  was  not 
overburdened  with  clothes,  Scanton  greeted 
him  with  a  friendly : 

"Glad  to  see  you  back,  old  boy.  How  sad 
about  poor  Willinger !  It  seems  just  like  the 
irony  of  fate;  for  I  remember  well,  that  he 
was  the  one  who  urged  the  trip  and  was  so 
bent  on  going  to  the  Isthmus ;  but  tell  me  all 
about  it;  of  yourself  and  of  Charlie's  last 
moments  in  that  far-away  country."  With 
which  the  two  men,  arm  in  arm,  walked 
away  together  and  stood  up  on  the  dock 
talking  for  quite  a  while.  Their  conversa- 
tion over,  Scanton  handed  a  sealed  envelope 
to  Lowley,  who  opened  the  same  and  found 
that  it  contained  a  letter  from  his  sister, 


AN    UNHEEDED    WARNING    219 

Mabel,  inviting  him  to  come  and  make  his 
home  with  her  in  Nebraska,  where,  she 
wrote,  to  say,  she  had  become  a  prosperous 
school-teacher;  and  in  the  same  letter  she 
enclosed  sufficient  money  to  pay  her 
brother's  way  over,  and  to  purchase  for  him 
whatever  clothing  he  might  need  to  make 
himself  presentable. 

It  was  not  long  after  Lowley's  arrival  in 
New  York  that  he  proceeded  to  Nebraska. 
Finally,  when  he  met  his  sister,  Mabel,  who 
had  not  seen  him  for  years,  she  was  shocked 
to  see  the  change  that  had  come  over  him, 
and  so,  she  wept  like  a  child;  for  she  no- 
ticed that  Lowley's  cheeks  were  pale  and 
hollow,  his  frame  bent,  and  that  his  eyes 
were  yellow ;  but  when  she  recognized  about 
her  brother's  person,  the  locket  which  she 
had  given  to  Willinger,  in  days  gone  by,  the 
climax  of  her  sorrow  was  reached,  and  the 
old  love  quickened  again  within  her!  It  all 
seemed  more  than  she  could  bear  up  under, 
at  once;  and  so,  sickened  with  the  memory 
of  the  past  before  her,  she  threw  herself 
upon  a  near  sofa,  and  sobbed  and  sobbed  and 


220  PANAMA    PICTURES. 

sobbed  as  if  her  very  heart  would  break  be- 
neath the  burden  of  it  all — 

"Oh,  Charlie!  You  dear,  dead  Charlie!" 
she  cried  aloud,  "if  sweet  forgiveness  be  the 
power  of  the  dead,  forgive  me,  Charlie — for- 
give me,  as  God  will  forgive  us  all !" 


